UAW union pushes GM to increase U.S. auto production

The United Auto Workers (UAW) union’s leading negotiator in discussions with General Motors to resolve a three-week long strike.

“We have made it clear that there is no job security for us when GM products are made in other nations for the purpose of selling them here in the U.S.A.,” UAW Vice President Terry Dittes wrote in a letter to UAW authorities on the 23th day of the strike. “We believe that the vehicles GM sells here should be constructed here. We don’t understand GM’s opposition to this proposition.”

The strike at the United States’ biggest automaker started on September 16, with its 48,000 UAW members looking for higher pay, greater job security, a bigger share of the automaker’s profit and protection of healthcare advantages. The strike has cost GM over $1 billion and forced it to idle operations in Canada and Mexico.

GM refused to discuss about the UAW letter, which the union released to the media.

GM’s production of trucks and sport-utility vehicles in Mexico has drawn outrage from union workers.

During August, 526,000 of the 573,000 vehicles the automaker has exported from Mexico were sent to the United States, equal to about a quarter of its U.S. sales. Donald Trump and many lawmakers have also prompted the automaker to build more vehicles in the United States.

GM declared in November 2018 it would shut down four U.S. factories, including two assembly plants, and slash 15,000 jobs in North America.