The United Auto Workers union has urged its members to boycott the Mexico-made Chevrolet Blazer in a scathing new letter published to Facebook.
WardsAuto reported on the letter on Thursday, which said the UAW continues to have “conflicts and disagreements” with GM. The letter’s two main motifs are ones we’ve seen highlighted in recent months. Terry Dittes, director of the UAW’s GM Department, said the automaker has doubled down on cheaper labor in Mexico and continues to use temporary workers at U.S. plants, which robs laid-off UAW members of jobs.
“It’s my opinion America is with us in this fight to build here what we sell here,” Dittes wrote in part. The letter was addressed to Local Union Presidents, Shop Chairpersons, Vice Presidents, Financial Secretaries and Recording Secretaries.
Dittes continued and explicitly advocated for a boycott over GM’s latest mid-size crossover SUV and said it’s his hope every UAW member and family does not purchase the Chevrolet Blazer “unless it is made in the USA by the members of the UAW.”
GM did not respond to the UAW letter at the time of this report.
He didn’t hold back elsewhere in the letter, using some incredibly strong language. Specifically, he called out GM and said the automaker cares about one thing only: money. He said GM’s slumping stock price and U.S. sales is evidence the automaker cannot afford to close four U.S. production plants while Mexico builds new vehicles.
GM announced this past November that it would close two vehicle assembly plants and two transmission plants in the U.S. as part of a massive restructuring operation. The Lordstown plant in Ohio, Detroit-Hamtramck plant and Warren transmission operation in Michigan, and Baltimore transmission plant in Maryland are all scheduled to go idle in a few months.
The automaker will need to negotiate the plants’ closures with the UAW this year as the current labor contract expires this September. So far, it appears GM is in for a tough fight.
GM has vowed to find new jobs for the thousands of UAW workers that will be laid off with the plant closures, but the UAW has already filed a lawsuit against the automaker over its use of temp employees. Dittes also urged UAW members to expose any plants where GM currently uses temp workers as the legal battle ramps up.
Comments
Legit question. Has a consumer boycott ever worked for cars?
I ask because post war Japanese car sales weren’t rejected en masse by the American public. Soviet bloc vehicles were allowed into the US market where they imploded. German automotive brands associated with the Third Reich leadership are still being sold in US. 15 years ago people were told to give the finger to the H2, but that didn’t stop Hummer until the credit crunch and bankruptcy proceedings. Buick still has the Chinese-built Envision in production as of this post.
Really, I don’t think the US car buying population is as worried about the cars’ final point of assembly as they are about qualities like reliability and cost of ownership. Some people are more worried than others, however, but I just don’t think many give a damn.
Man, those are some rose coloured glasses. GM is headed the way of Holden with large loss of market share and ruined reputation/brand value. These things are extremely hard to get back once degraded.
People up here in Canada are going to boycott all GM products as we bailed them out only to kick us in the nuts ? so they can build with $2 an hour workers in Mexico.
Toyota has no problem building in US, why is GM dropping the ball constantly?
People in Eastern Canada you mean. Pretty sure once you hit Manitoba going west most people tend not to care one way or the other.
This Canadian doesn’t see any reasonable reason to boycott GM because of Unifor’s or the UAW’s actions, or to do so in solidarity with auto workers thousands of kilometers away that I’ve never met. Canadians, like the Americans, will spend their dollars where they see fit, and not on emotional whims of whatever flavour of the month cause is popular.
Besides, we don’t have to have fractious and damaging ‘dyed in wool loyalties’ to automakers and their manufacturing abilities that many American have. We can be just as comfortable with American cars as we are with the Japanese.
Finally, you should always keep an arms length relation to any automaker and never fully rely on them as a means of long-term employment (they should be seen as a means to an end, like a McJob, something to do but not a career choice). Automotive corporations are not beholden to the workers or support staff at any level; only to their shareholders.
Dependency on the volume of work that a plant can provide over time is not a viable means of sustainability, especially when line-automation, shifting market demands, redundancy plants, and economic shifts (say from heavy manufacturing to resource extraction or knowledge) can kill a plant overnight.
TL;DR : As long as you work for someone else, don’t ever get comfortable .
Hasn’t there been a ‘boycott’ of ALL GM vehicles, for at least 5 years? Market share is about 1/2 now! The vehicles typically do not offer the safety/features that the BUYER wants (not what the producer wants).
Would you rather buy a vehicle from a ‘closing’ plant or a Blazer?
I care where my car is built and the quality of it. I have had 3 GM vehicles since 2011. Now this fall #4 and I am having a real problem my these people laying off workers and building vehicles in Mexico. Buick I was looking at built in Mexico and also the Blazer I was looking at. I am not buying a car that is not made the USA!
I boycott it because they call it Blazer.
Really, it’s hard to see Mexican plants working and US plants closing. I have to agree, I wouldn’t buy this or the regular cab pick up built in Silao.
I will not buy any car made in Mexico.
I can’t stand unions. I do however agree with them on this.
GM needs new leadership. This is ridiculous.
damn right, gm has become a huge joke right now, mary barra should be fired and shame on them and chevy for insulting long time chevy blazer fans for crap like this.
#bringourjobsbacktoamericanow!
I’m not pro-union nor anti-union but it breaks my heart to see GM continue to ruin Chevrolet specifically. This is just another example of taking a Chevrolet Heritage nameplate and tarnishing it to the point of no return. I can’t think of a Chevrolet outside of the Corvette that hasn’t been damaged in some way by poor GM decisions. And those decisions always center on keeping a glass ceiling above Chevy or being cheap. This is just being cheap.
And I don’t but the whole ‘this decision was made a long time ago’ bit. Tesla can set up tents here in the USA on the fly to put together cars. GM (if they really wanted to) could have easily avoided this. I’m really surprised the crew cab Silverado hasn’t taken more of a hit. Or perhaps it has.
The Irony of the UAW crying about this now. Plenty of Mexican made Chevy Avalanches, Trax, Equinox, and Korean made Chevy Sparks and Buick Encores are gracing the parking lots of UAW halls. Even UAW members don’t seem to care about final build when the price is right.
They were purchased when GM was still building vehicles here. Now they want to close a lot of US plants but not the Mexican ones.
All for cheaper labor.
Man GM needs to rid themselves of the UAW somehow. I used to be split on Unions but this is utterly ridiculous.
Yeah just go to your local Toyota Dealership then and get a car from a company that does not support you at all.
What an Insane stance.
It is time for many to suck it up and just grow up. Cars have been made in Mexico for a good long while. Often it is to help profits and keep prices down while supplying markers south of us too.
You complain if they build it there. They move it here and then you complain it cost more.
GM has been paying dividends and at the same time investing in new products and technology many other companies can not do by themselves. Much of this tech will be sold to others as We’ll be used in GMs vehicles.
I know the forum is filled with folks who just don’t understand the whole deal. Some are just trolls with no life as attacking GM by unions and lobbies for other brands is an industry.
GM as are all MFGs are facing a very tough future and what actions taken now will determine who will survive.
The coming announcement of Ford and VW working together is a strong sign of just how tough it is going to be.
GM for decades refused to cut s,ow product, they refused to cut slow no profit divisions, they refused to leave no profit markets. They would start something like Saturn and not invest in it.
Today they are doing these tough things and while they may not be popular with some in the long run it will save the company, the investors and the majority of the employees.
As for no time to move yes it is true as GM is not like Tesla where it makes only a couple cars at one plant with a limited number of suppliers. GM also supplies many of their own parts.
As for building in @ tent that was a pure act of desperation. How many years is the 3 behind in coming to market 3-4 years? If GM operated lime that the market would have crushed them. Tesla is on borrowed time given to them by the market. At some point they will make a call.
Sorry, when a company looses market share, and restructures in a strong economy based on a recession that may or may not happen, it is a reflection of poor leadership on the part of Barra.
What strong economy?
Stocks down. Wages are stagnant. Why does everyone think the economy is booming?
Yeah sweet there’s a bunch of Minimum Wage jobs out there. Yup that will surely get people to the dealerships to upgrade LOL
The model 3 is only 1yr, at the most behind on production forecast. Always dissing on Tesla…
I had non-union and union jobs. Walked picket lines weeks at a time. Trust me, union jobs are better. If you never worked both types of jobs you know nothing about it. Union jobs raise wages for non-union workers, too.
I’ve worked union and none unions so I guess I have every right to say unions are garbage and have the completely wrong mindset to be successful or efficient at anything they’re involved in.
The union itself doesn’t give two craps about employees or the company they work for. They care about themselves first and foremost and employees value is only as important as making sure they get their union dues. They don’t care if the employeer fails as long as they get their dues and get to whine like little children about something not being in their job description. Once I got out of the union it became incredibly obvious that the correct mindset is to work on helping the company succeed as that will equal job security, better pay and benefits. If you would rather be paid based on years of employment and not the value you bring to the company, you haven’t excelled at what you do.
look at the UAW big shots at FCA going to jail for stealing money from the members dues and the company. the unions are the problem because the labor cost in building a car is becoming less because of automation. the union bosses are more interested in political power in Washington than the members.
agree with you parents worked for GM and Ford and yes they took good care of us. A few years ago I went to buy a new car the end of 2010 and it was a Fusion Titanium all the bells and whistles and took it for a test drive and came back and was going to buy it and I did not realize until I opened the door it said Made in Mexico. I left and bought a UAW built GM vehicle. I was really turned off by that.
I worked in the Ft. Wayne plant for 20 years as a roving operator.. So I was assigned different jobs daily and weekly. A large portion of the parts on the GMC/Chevy pickups are from Mexico, Japan, etc, etc
I’m willing to make a bet most of the shoes these union guys have on are made in another country.. It hasn’t been a USA economy since Clinton started Nafta.. It’s now a world economy.. GM doesn’t like union leaders who make too much money for doing nothing. Maybe the UAW should look at themselves..
Count me in! And no, I am not a UAW member.
I cant stand with the UAW on this one as much as I cant stand with GM management. The UAW has been a parasite on US auto manufacturers in a way that only Anglo countries with union systems that looks at their employers as the ‘enemy’ of the worker can do.
That is the one thing about Canada. Many Canadian unions and their pet the NDP absolutely despise the companies that they work for. They have never even tried to understand the symbiotic relationship between the companies and the workers.
I support a boycott of GM Mexican and China assembled cars.
I don’t think anyone has an issue with GM partnering with another company. They all do that, currently GM and Honda are for certain future products. I never worked for a union I work for a family owned company that has been in business for over 105 years. My issue is on how they did what they did. Do I care they have a plant in Mexico, not necessarily. Do I have a problem and reason why they decide to build a vehicle in Mexico and shutting down 14,000+ workers here in the US, absolutely.
I don’t buy that garbage on about we didn’t know the market would change and already finishing production ready crossovers to be built in Mexico and a week later they (GM) are Mexico’s biggest exporter.. I do not like Ford really as in their vehicle design but the way they are running their business is really good. I believe they will gain more market share due to their business strategy.
Just because I’m a GM fan does not mean I agree with them.
I WILL NOT BUY IT PRIMARILY BECAUSE OF THE AUTO STOP-START FEATURE WITHOUT A BYPASS OPTION AND ALSO DUE TO NOT BEING MADE IN THE USA WHILE SHUTTING DOWN DOMESTIC PLANTS. I HAVE DRIVEN THIS NEW VEHICLE AND ALTHOUGH I’M DISAPPOINTED THAT THERE IS NOTHING RETRO TO BACK UP THE VERY POPULAR BLAZER NAME, IT IS A GREAT DRIVING VEHICLE WITH THE EXCEPTION OF SHUTTING DOWN WHILE I’M WAITING TO DART ACROSS A VERY BUSY MAJOR STREET. I HAVE ONLY BOUGHT DOMESTIC BRAND NEW VEHICLES OVER THE LAST 35+ YEARS BUT FOR NOW I PREFER ANY BRAND THAT DOES NOT MANDATE AUTO STOP-START.