UAW objects to GM restructuring plan

The Obama administration may have managed to get Chrysler and the UAW to agree on a restructuring package, but doing the same for General Motors is proving difficult. The UAW is objecting to GM's latest restructuring plan because it proposes making up for the lost production of plants to be closed down by importing more vehicles from the company's plants abroad. Automotive News reports:

The UAW is calling on the U.S. government to reject General Motors' latest restructuring plan, saying it would cut U.S. factory jobs and clear the way for increased imports from plants in Mexico, Korea and China. The objection by the union, which could own 39 percent of a restructured GM, underscores the deep problems that the No. 1 U.S. automaker faces in satisfying the demands of all of the parties with a stake in its effort to stay out of bankruptcy. "The UAW urges you to join with us in expressing your opposition to GM's plans to close factories and eliminate jobs in the United States while it is increasing imports from other countries," Alan Reuther, the UAW's chief lobbyist, said in an open letter to U.S. lawmakers dated Monday.

The restructuring plan includes the closing of 16 plants in total, four of them assembly plants. But Reuther's letter states, "The overall number of vehicles that GM will be importing in 2014 represents the production of four assembly plants, the same number that GM plans to close in the United States." He urged lawmakers to prevail on the Obama administration to make sure that any restructuring plan for the largest American automaker maximize the number of American jobs and minimize the need to import vehicles built in other countries.