The UAW has made bold claims about the job growth potential of moving automotive production to the United States, publishing a study that concludes 90,000 jobs could be created directly by maximizing the capacities of existing plants.
According to what the UAW calls its “deep-dive report,” the U.S. has auto manufacturing capacity in excess of 14.7 million units per year at its active car factories.
UAW President Shawn Fain
However, the UAW goes on to say that only 10.2 million vehicles were built at these facilities during calendar 2024. Therefore, at least 4.5 million units worth of already built vehicle manufacturing capacity is currently standing idle. The union claims it would be possible to boost car production by over 45 percent by bringing this idle capacity online.
UAW President Shawn Fain – who has recently swung to unexpected support for U.S. President Donald Trump because of the latter’s 25-percent tariffs on imported autos – says “we don’t need to break ground on a single new plant to rapidly grow auto manufacturing capacity.” Instead, he says, the capacity “is already right in front of us, in the plants we’ve built, the skills of our members, and the communities that depend on these jobs.”
The UAW fulminates that “plants across the country are underutilized because of high-exploitation race to the bottom practices that kill U.S. jobs and suppress wages for workers overseas, with the difference going straight to Wall Street.” The roughly 90,000 jobs would be the number of workers needed to bring the current facilities up to full capacity.
In its study, the union points out that its 14.7-million unit figure is a lowball estimate. Plants that have been idled totally, such as GM’s former Lordstown plant in Ohio and the Orion plant, along with the Belvidere plant of Stellantis, are not included in the figure. Only active factories being used at less than full capacity are figured into the 14.7-million estimate, and if Lordstown, Belvidere, and other plants were brought back online, capacity would rise by millions of units without needing to build new facilities.
Shawn Fain and the UAW echo the conclusions of Mary Barra, who recently said in a CNBC interview that GM will add 50,000 units of truck production simply by fully utilizing the GM Fort Wayne assembly plant in Indiana. She added that The General is likely to start using other plants’ idle capacity, too. This strategy will enable a much faster ramp-up of U.S. production than building new plants.
GM Authority previously did its own analysis of how much GM could theoretically boost U.S. production. Our quick answer, using back-of-the-envelope math, was that The General’s idle capacity amounts to about 486,145 vehicles. This is 725,837 short of current overseas capacity – though buying back and reactivating the Lordstown plant, as the UAW suggests, would add about another 300,000 vehicles and reduce the shortfall to “only” 425,000.
Chevy Trax units awaiting shipment in South Korea
Shawn Fain concluded on a ringing rhetorical note by proclaiming “auto companies should be using this moment to scale up and add good jobs by investing in workers instead of Wall Street.”
“The working class built the auto industry – and we’re ready to build its future.”
Comments
Come on is this analysis done by a 6th grader? Of course manufacturing could be brought back into the US. The question is the cost of the vehicles and how many people they’ll actually need to build those vehicles. Auto plants are making more cars with less people so to automation.
Additionally one of the reasons you build a car outside the US is because you sell it outside the US as well.
Most Excellant opinions. Finally some one who understands what is happening
in the real world. Some one who does not have “Doors open lights on nobody home. “
We’re so used to importing vehicles, that the idea of us exporting vehicles is totally foreign. But that is in fact exactly what other countries are doing…building vehicles, and then shipping them to us.
Hyundai (Elantra and Tucson), Honda (Civic and CR-V), Toyota (Corolla, Rav4, and Corolla Cross), and Chevrolet when they were making the Cruze, weren’t complaining back then. They are fully capable of manufacturing these cars in the US. But excuses are like @$$holes. Everyone has one.
As I said. Mary and Jim can buy themselves a smaller yacht or a mansion with one less bathroom.
Oh sure, and then have to deal with these outrageous UAW contracts. And up go vehicle prices AGAIN, when most buyers have already had enough.
How hard is it to bang together a car? Why should we have to pay some dope smoking high school drop out $40/Hr plus benefits to screw in dome lights? I think $15/hour is more than fair. Try working at Burger King over a hot fry machine and cleaning up puke. They get less than $15/hr. to clean up puke.
Get a life. I worked in a unionized auto plant. Your are a dinasour who is clueless. What are you smoking + where can we get some? Lots of us were university grads( 3 years). You need such knowledge to run computerized machines. We work in factories that are at times 85 degrees in summer. Burger King isn*t air conditioned is it .?? Get EDUMACATED in university + get a job in auto plant. “AIR HEAD”
You guys make junk. I almost got killed in my ‘97 Grand Am driving through a lightly flooded viaduct. I simply followed the Civics, Corollas and Hyundais driving through the water and they made it. My car GM Union made car dies because you Union guys had the bright idea to put the ignition coil on the bottom of the block.
For someone who has a PHD you should know that the “union guys” did not place the ignition coil on the bottom of the block- it was the engineers that did that.
Why are you driving your car through water? And you mention Corolla, which like my Rav4, has the air intake in the driver side wheel well, well down towards the bottom of the car where just 2” of water can be sucked up into the engine?
You shouldn’t be driving ANY car through water as water in an engine doesn’t bode well for the engine unless it is specifically designed for it like a modified offroad vehicle. This isn’t a union problem. Sounds like its a user problem.
Beachy29579. Please read the comment above . Reply to theflew. I would suggest something about you has ” FLOWN THE COOP”. Readers have had enough. Of your “BULLONY. ” Get a job as a unionized (U.A.W). auto worker. So the DIARIA of da mouth stops. OKY DOKY.
That way yous will quite wasting our time. ROOKIE
This is great news add another 10k to new cars
Thank you dickey. You must be related to B_THCY. Opppsssy beachy.
Don’t worry, price should only go up $5k. Shawn Fain says GM stockholders should get nothing and GM management should be paid the same as the UAW members. Unions love socialism, all workers paid the same regardless of talent, intelligence or ability.
Bigger comish
i notice profit sharing checks are never mentioned when they complain about GM and wall street and how none of the money is invested in workers….
Well considering 12k x 54,000 workers is less then 1 billion of the 12 billion in profits back to workers that’s a joke
But that’s the issue the real issue why company’s don’t pay ppl
Big money for example gm could give all its workers a million dollar profits sharing n it would cost 5.4 billion dollars to do it 1x gm still would have 6.6 billion left in profits from 1 year earnings so why don’t gm do it cause nobody will come to work for a year they would effectively put gm into a worker shortage
Ford is even worse they made 11 billion in profit one year and only gave 540 million bk in profit sharing to workers who have the hours workers 2 get the full amount that’s the whole thing. People don’t realize not. Everybody gets a whole amount because they don’t have enough hours to be eligible for the whole amount. It goes by how many hours you worked.
And it’s taxed at 48% tax takes more then the worker gets damn near for some ppl it does
Should have never got to this after “WE” bailed them out.
This just goes to show you how completely out of touch the UAW is…
Why not $2500/Hr to bang together a car?
Me thinks yous have been “BANGING” your head against da wall too mouch .
Yu have to stop. Not good for you .
Not as completely out to lunch like you .
My next pickup purchase will need to be assembled in Flint or Fort Wayne. GM can continue to sell its Canadian assembled pickups in Canada and it’s Mexico assembled pickups in Mexico. Sounds fair to me!
As a Canadian . Thank you Dave D for your support. pickum up trucks assembled in
Fort Wayne + flint. ASSEMBLED . With parts ” MADE IN CANADA ”
Thank You too much. We WUV you americans. So generous?
Yeah u won’t be when we take ur country
No more free health care for you you gonna carry your own weight from now on
“TO DREAM THE IMPOSSIBLE DREAM .. you must be a trumper. No BRAIN WILL TRAVEL. Out of touch with reality. Watch out for da “FOUR HORSEMEN of the
” APOCALYPSE” charging towards you with an invitation to the room with da
“RUBBER WALL PAPER “. What can we do you for today. ?? We love you americans.
You are such great “COMEDIANS”. You love punishment. AH Ha Ah Ah. AH.
Love it . Watch da news. Your army “CAN*T ” even shoot down drones flying over your “ARMY BASES.” Which way did they go “George ” Which way did they go.
Canada has nothing to worry about .
“LOOK” out we might just take over ur country.
Say can you see my eyes den my hair*s too short. Watch out we have legs up to our necks we will make you physical. wrecks . We love ya we love ya “HONEY”
FOR BREAKFAST.
Hey AMOSSTUTZ, you do realize that WE ( the tax payers) bailed out the banks in 2008 and are still bailing out the farmers through subsidies from failed tariffs in 2017.
Hey DON, I believe the banks paid back the funds along with interest from the 2008 bailout but WE (the tax payers) are still out approximately $10 billion on the GM bailout and those farmers who received subsidies were farming “soil” in the United States not China, Mexico, Canada etc.
Well! Well! Well!…. Dorothy (Barra) follow the yellow brick road to Miralago…She will only go along with this if 40 to 50% of new production is EVs. She might better have a PAPAL audience with Pope Don or finally be put out to pasture.
Pope Don today. The next coming of JESUS tomorrow.
See “GOD” has a wunderfull sense of humour. He made trump didn*t “HE” ??
“GOD ” made man in his own image.
He can*t explain trump. “Wizard of OZ ” ?? Tanks for da up date “SCARE CROW”.
I blame Canada
uneducated people do. Want to blame some one” LOOK in the MIRROR”. What are
you 5 years old. Take some responsibilty for your actions. This publication is for “ADULTS ONLY”.
So they want 20 bucks an hour but still build crap quality products?
Well dairy farmers have been subsidized long b4 2017 buddy where u get ur info a bit late dated
That that subsidy that you speak up is the reason why your milk is five dollars a gallon instead of $15 a gallon
Get ready for a stripper $30,000 Trax and a $40,000 base Equinox. Including benefits, current UAW contract cost is $61/hour, in Mexico it is $6-$8/hour. The US has the highest labor rates in the world, by far. The only labor intensive industries that should be in the US are those that can’t be done in other countries (service industry, land based logistics) or those we need to maintain some minimum production capacity level for national security reasons.
Low wage “service industry” jobs and lack of a manufacturing base does not float an economy for a superpower.
Yes Tigger, and the same goes for a country that wants to defend itself in wartime.
So what guy what you got a problem with middle class money don’t hate appreciate maybe apply yourself n u make more don’t hate cause they ain’t rich they live check to check to just like you I’m guessing
GM North america does not export that much because there are only 25-30 countries in the world, out of 192 that exist today, in which it has operations or has decided on its own to sell cars in a limited number. So yes it could export, but where to? And there are many reasons brought up here many times: only BIG SUVs that can’t be parked in any european country where on top of that fuel is $7 USD a gallon at least. No sedans or coupes in the line. Except the Vette, no other “right out of the assembly line” RHD vehicles, and so on. Wake up! GM is not global any more. As someone said a couple of days ago, it is melting like an ice cube.
I understand those subsidies, the ones I refer to addressed a different metric.
I think it’s more like 120 per hour with there benefits lol
Your comments are not based on facts. You are right you do not think. 2 year old can*t think. Your comments make every normal person LOL.
Just remember these companies got a whole lot of meat left on there bones 700 million paid bk In profit sharing 700,000,000.00 paid bk to workers out of 12 billion 1 year profits 12,000,000,000.00 11,300,000,000.00 is the executives shareholders n re investment 700,000,000.00 the very ppl who generate all that profit get none of it
My mother worked for ford and the last 10 years she worked at ford ford profited 107 billion dollars over ten year my moms profit sharing for the 10 years was 98,800.00 n ford profited 120,000,000,000.00 that’s 0.0000823% is that fair and the hourly as a whole is 5,300,000,000 paid out over 10 yrs to 54,000 employees = 4.4% of profits over 10 years .44% of yearly profits given to the workers that’s a joke
As far as the ev celestiq I’m not sure what gm has to gain by entering this market at a self limit of 250 units a year at the minimum 340,000 is only 51 million a year n gm invested 81 million to get it going so 3 years its fully profitable but not much profit to be had so im not sure what the gain is here gm probing new markets maybe but with the price tag I can’t imagine they will sustain 100 units for 5 years im 5 years that car is prob discontinued
I don’t believe they even have orders for it gm had not delivered one yet that celestiq been out for well over a year n I don’t believe there’s a wait 6 weeks what ever is standard it’s not on back order im 100% sure of that
Amazing how UAW President Shawn Fain despised Trump so much when Biden was in office. Now he is all for Trump. Shawn even told his members to vote Biden, even though most of them did not. Which was a good thing. Proves that Shawn is just a flip flopper
It is proof anybody has a chance in AMERICA, just read the mindless babble coming from Dickey. What a fitting name.
Yeah my name is made up what’s your excuse Donny I had a dog named Donny was the dumbest animal I ever owned ..
takes one to know one. At least he doesn*t hide his name. Why are you hiding yours.? Are you that “EMBAR ASS ED?? You also CAN*T read . His name is DON.
WOW you are so very smart.
For all you”KNUKLE DRAGERS ” who compain about Lazy over paid high school drop outs making tons of money. They all did incredibly back braking work day in and day out. While you lazy cry babies were “TOO LAZY”.And have never ” WORKED REAL HARD ” any time in your life. You would not last half hour on the line. Before cry ” Give me an air conditioned office.I can*t stand the “TORTURE” .Consider dis a “SPANKING” “You HORRIBLE” little person . Not your body. Time to change your ” DIAPER” You big “SUCK. You are “FULL OF IT”.Lucky we build cars or youd have nothing to drive.”WAH WAH” I want my “MOMMY.” ” I want my LAWYER”. I is just a bit. “FRUSTRATED”. Don*t you know.
Mary Barra was an engineer… Therefore she was a union employee! When you think of it that way you start to realize the corruption that is most likely occurring at gm today. (If it looks like fire, and smells like fire, it probably is) I rode all over Ann Arbor, Michigan in a courtesy shuttle from a GM dealership with a driver who had worked in GM plants and could do nothing but brag about sticking alcohol bottles in rocker panels and all the other things a normal person would be fired for. Absolutely the worst advertising for the UAW and gm!
Barra was never a union employee. No engineers at GM were.
I’m sorry, after reading all of these Canadian becoming the 51st state insults, the level of education of over-paid US employees working on assembly lines, etc., I prefer to purchase my vehicles by their quality, not B.S.
Having said this I currently own a 2025 Cadillac Optiq despite previously owning a 2022 US manufactured Chevy Bolt that was so bad that it spent 46 days out of the first two months of ownership in the dealership service shop. I filed for a Lemon law replacement and received a new car without too much aggravation.
Starting when I was much younger I also bought a new 70’s GM car that rusted out in 3 years. My dad bought a 78 Ford pickup that rusted out even faster than that but also kept coming back to purchasing American knowing that these cars could be real junk.
Meanwhile my wife’s recent vehicles have been a new 2014 Subaru Forrester and a 2019 RAV4 Hybrid. Neither of these cars have ever returned to the dealership service shop for any kind of repair. Before you jump to any kind of foreign conspiracies both of these cars were also manufactured in North America.
My point is that it doesn’t matter where in America the car was assembled or the level of education of the assembly worker, it comes down to corporate greed and possibly that your car was manufactured on a Monday or late in the day Friday.
Dickey is ashamed of his given name. Maybe he picked Dickey because he wishes he had one or because he is one.