UAW, allies in Washington working to protect our jobs

[DainBramaged]

The importance of having elected officials who share our view that protecting Main Street is just has important as protecting Wall Street was made clear this week.

A global credit crisis and worldwide economic slowdown have just about dried up all auto sales for all automakers. Consumers are delaying big ticket purchases while businesses feeling the credit pinch are delaying replacing their fleets.

"Make no mistake: The domestic auto industry cannot succeed in today's unstable economic environment without immediate help from the federal government. And the costs of failure are unacceptable," UAW President Ron Gettelfinger said in an Oct. 30 letter to Congress.

Help could soon be on the way. President-elect Barack Obama has made saving the U.S. domestic auto industry a top priority, and addressed it at his first news conference as president-elect on Nov. 7:

"The auto industry is the backbone of American manufacturing and a critical part of our attempt to reduce our dependence on foreign oil," President-elect Obama said. "I would like to see the administration do everything they can to accelerate the retooling assistance that Congress has already enacted."

Obama added that his transition team is already working on additional policy options to "help the auto industry adjust, weather the financial crisis, and succeed in producing fuel-efficient cars here in the United States."

"I have asked my team to explore what we can do under current law and whether additional legislation will be needed for this purpose," he added.

Obama also brought up the auto industry crisis in his first meeting with President Bush on Nov. 10.

The entire delegation of Michigan lawmakers -- Republicans and Democrats -- is also working to get something done quickly. In a Nov. 10 letter to Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, they asked for emergency measures to be enacted to help domestic automakers.

Specifically, the lawmakers want the Treasury Department to use its authority under the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act to help domestic automakers with immediate loans. Inaction, they say, is not an option.

"The failure of even one U.S. automaker would mean the loss of millions of jobs and cost our economy hundreds of billions of dollars," the lawmakers said.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced on Nov. 11 that a bill is being drafted to provide "emergency and limited financial assistance" to the industry as part of a $700 billion financial rescue program already on the books. Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., also announced plans to introduce legislation if the Bush administration fails to approve loans from the $700 billion bailout fund. And Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., is planning to announce a bill today that would make automobile loan interest deductible from federal taxes, according to the Automotive News.

President Gettelfinger said the issue is larger than the hundreds of thousands of UAW members who are active or retired workers from the Detroit-based automakers.

"It's also about thousands of car dealerships, which are anchor businesses in cities and towns across America," he said. "It's about thousands of small and medium-sized businesses -- employing millions of workers -- who supply parts, logistics, research, engineering and other services to Chrysler, Ford and GM.

"If a major domestic auto company were to fail, a significant number of supplier companies would also be in jeopardy. This would quickly affect all companies that produce autos in the U.S. -- including Toyota, Honda and Nissan -- because many of these firms buy parts and services from the same group of suppliers."


http://www.uaw.org/news/features/vw_fst1.cfm?fstId=61

[madrchsod]

1. my daughter told me tonight that she will probably be laid off in january

although the supplier she works for has contacts for 6 different auto makers across the world there still is`t enough orders. other problem is the changing technology has obsoleted several lines. they have two new lines for american off road and a european company but there are no orders yet. i guess it will be her first lay-off...i remember mine when i was her age some 35 years ago...

contrary to some here at du we need our car industry and all the related businesses that supply it. i swear to god some here have the republican talking points memorized.

[DainBramaged]

2. I'm fighting in GD now, with the same tired talking points

from (mostly) the same tired people, who just don't like me defending their target of hate. If GM had never made the Hummer, they would have found some other reason to hate us. But GOD forbid you point out the Tundra, Titan or Land Cruiser, those are sacred because the Japanese make a hybrid.

Be well. :loveya:

[madrchsod]

3. ya i just noticed that

ya those toyotas you mentioned hogs...funny my daughters dept just received a big part order for tundra trucks....i love people that blame gm for making cars and trucks that people actually wanted to buy...it`s like gm and ford forced these people to buy them.

what pisses me off is that gm has the volt ready for production and is ahead of the japanese and the europeans in design and technology.general motors has a winner in the volt so now the problem is an economy that can support it`s production.

[DainBramaged]

4. Yup, but the first year projcted sales are only 6000

because the battery packs are so complicated and expensive to build (sub-contracted).