GM to invest $1 billion in Mexico for electric vehicle production, UAW calls move ‘a slap in the face’ Assembly plant to be converted
FILE - In this Jan. 27, 2020 file photo, a GM logo is shown at the General Motors Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly plant in Hamtramck, Mich. General Motors, the Detroit automaker making an aggressive push into electric vehicles, is establishing a goal of becoming carbon neutral in both its global products and its operations by 2040. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya, File) (Paul Sancya, Copyright 2020 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)
DETROIT – General Motors announced on Thursday (April 29) that it is investing $1 billion to convert an assembly plant in Mexico to build electric vehicles.
The decision is being slammed by the UAW . UAW Vice President Terry Dites called the decision a “slap in the face.”
At a time when General Motors is asking for a significant investment by the U.S. government in subsidizing electric vehicles, this is a slap in the face for not only UAW members and their families but also for U.S. taxpayers and the American workforce.
General Motors automobiles made in Mexico are sold in the United States and should be made right here, employing American workers. That is why our nation is investing in these companies. Taxpayer money should not go to companies that utilize labor outside the U.S. while benefiting from American government subsidies. This is not the America any of us signed on for. Frankly, it is unseemly.
UAW Vice President Terry Dites READ: General Motors sets goal of going largely electric by 2035
General Motors responded with the following statement.
Congresswoman Debbie DIngell weighed in on the decision. Her statement is available below.
Electric vehicles must be built here in America by the finest workforce in the world – the American worker. Not one American dollar should support our own jobs being shipped off to Mexico – especially when we have the workers and the technology to manufacture the best vehicles of the future here at home. General Motors needs to reaffirm their commitment to working, American families. I am focused on ensuring auto innovation and manufacturing stays in the hands of hard-working American people so that the United States can remain the global leader for the next era. Legislation I am leading in Congress, the U.S.A. Electrify Forward Act and the Advanced Technology Vehicle Manufacturing Future Act, will modernize and expand programs used to build and retool auto factories in the United States so that future generations of American workers will benefit long-term and at the same time decarbonize the economy.
Congresswoman Debbie Dingell (MI-12) READ: More automotive news
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Kayla is a Web Producer for ClickOnDetroit. Before she joined the team in 2018 she worked at WILX in Lansing as a digital producer.
