FLINT, MI – United Auto Workers Vice President Joe Ashton, who leads the union into negotiations with General Motors later this month, says he wants the auto maker to return more production to the U.S. from Mexico.
“When we sit down at the bargaining table, we look at them bringing work back to this country,” Ashton tells journalists after an event to announce GM’s $328 million investment in an assembly plant here for 2013 production of next-generation of pickups and SUVs.
The UAW has been “crunching numbers for the last year” to make a business case for its argument, he adds.
The Flint assembly plant, which builds heavy-duty versions of the Chevy Silverado and GMC Sierra pickups, already will take some production from Mexico later this year when the site adds a third shift to meet demand GM’s Mexican operations cannot fill.
Cathy Clegg, GM vice president-labor relations, says moving production back to the U.S. is a popular topic in discussions with the UAW.
“We talk about that,” says Clegg, also on hand for the announcement. “We talk about our products, our facilities, all of the time.”
Neither side elaborates on specific products.
GM operates three assembly plants in Mexico – Silao, Ramos Arizpe and San Luis Potosi.
Silao makes large pickups and SUVs; Ramos Arizpe produces the Chevrolet HHR, which is in its final year of production, as well as the Cadillac SRX, Saab 9-4X, Chevrolet Captiva and Chevrolet Chevy; while San Luis Potosi builds the Chevy Aveo B-car.
GM has two shuttered assembly plants in the U.S. – Janesville, WI, and Spring Hill, TN, – the UAW would like to see back up and running.
A third facility at Shreveport, LA, was lumped into a batch of assets slated for liquidation during GM’s 2009 bankruptcy, and the UAW wants GM to take it back. It currently builds small pickups, but has no product scheduled after 2012.
Clegg says market demand will determine product allocation.
“First off, we need to see some pretty healthy market recovery before we start turning factories back on,” she says.
Until then, she says, GM will rely on capacity currently on line. The auto maker’s assembly plants in the U.S. operated at 66% of capacity through the first six months of 2011, according to Ward’s data.
“We certainly are not going to make a decision and make a (product) commitment solely as a way of getting an agreement,” Clegg adds. “If the market doesn’t drive it, we can’t do it. We can’t put the business in that position. We’ve got to be careful.”
Through June, GM’s U.S. light-vehicle sales were up 17.1% against an industry that’s tracking 12.7% ahead of last year, according to Ward’s.
Ashton reiterates his call earlier this year that talks will focus on winning jobs.
“The vast majority of members want jobs. And they want job security,” he says.
“They never want to go through what we had to go through in 2009, when they faced bankruptcy and plant closings. There are other things out there, pensions (and) money, but all that goes to the wayside if you do not have a job.”
Ashton says he expects a “tough set” of negotiations with GM made doubly difficult by a no-strike clause at the auto maker as part of the taxpayer bailout.
“It makes it more difficult,” he says. “But at the same time it’s part of what the government decided on and we’ll work through it.”
Says Clegg: “I’m optimistic. We’ve got great problem-solvers on both sides. We know we have to find a way to make GM successful. We’re in a totally different situation, everyone knows that.”
GM’s investment in Flint will save or retain about 150 jobs and is the latest in string of investments from the auto maker totaling $2 billion at 17 facilities across eight states with implications for 4,000 jobs.
