A UAW union representative at the GM Rochester facility in New York is making a case for onshoring production work in light of new tariffs enacted by the Trump administration.
Per a report from NBC News affiliate WHEC-TV, Dan Maloney, who currently serves as president for UAW Local 1097 at the GM Rochester plant, states that the facility is ready and able to manufacture a wide range of auto parts that are currently produced abroad, including in Mexico, Canada, Taiwan, and China.
During an interview, Maloney emphasized the plant’s historical capacity to absorb new manufacturing work, citing a major transition in 2006 when the facility successfully relocated an entire fuel injection production operation from Michigan to Rochester within just six months. What’s more, several automotive components currently made in China and Taiwan were once built at the Rochester facility prior to a shift to production overseas.
“If they gave us the resources, they being General Motors, and maybe with some incentives from the government, we could have stuff turned around quick,” Maloney said.
Maloney says he has yet to hear any formal commitment from GM about transferring more production back to Rochester, and that it remains uncertain whether ongoing policy changes will translate into tangible job gains at the local level. Maloney says that GM Rochester plant once employed some 11,000 workers when he first started roughly 40 years ago, and that the facility now employs just 600 to 700 union members. Earlier this year, GM announced plans to lay off 25 workers at the facility.
Check out the full report and interview right here:
Just last week, President Trump enacted a series of widespread tariffs on practically every U.S. trading partner. The new tariffs include a 25-percent tax on new vehicles assembled outside the U.S., which is expected to extend to new automotive components next month. UAW President Shawn Fain has praised the move, while a recent report indicates that GM is now moving to expand pickup production at its facility in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
Comments
The umpa lumpa did not really want or expect any blue states to benefit from his actions. More so down the road when he is a distant memory things will simply revert back to what was. And that is the point. Long term regardless to who is in office certain policies must remain intact: Foreign, energy and things like this should remain intact no matter what otherwise thrashing is ongoing and we never move ahead for the good of the country but simply what fills their pockets and political support.
So narcissistic!!! The guy is a prior dem0crat and New Yorker! He had his toes in both parties before the Dems threw him out! He honestly would probably prefer seeing these jobs back in NY and Michigan state than in Mississippi and Louisiana. If your that Narcissistic, then he could cure cancer and you’d prefer to not be cured if you ever got it. That does remind me, know that snake on a pole on the side of ambulances? That’s from a Bible story where people we too stubborn to receive medical attention, so it’s not unprecedented.
His comments ignore tooling cost, training cost and time. Things don’t happen overnight, plus they have contracts with the current producers. There could be really high penalties cancelling the contract.
Trump’s tariffs ignore business reality.
It’s about time.
I’d take a 10% drop in the stock market for a 10% increase in local manufacturing any day. Granted that also cause I know the US market will shoot up in 9-15 months after the job and GDP reports show 10% growth, so it’s a win win.
Many parts are designed here in the US and first product runs are done here in the US, then they send the molds to other countries to produce. I have friend who works for a company makes the molds and he stated they always screw them up and we have to fix the molds. They could easily do the parts but the price is just a little cheaper overseas. So it wouldn’t take long for suppliers in the US to start producing parts.
The thing is GM shifted all of this production to Asia where wages are low but then they raised prices to an all-time high. Where did the cost savings go?