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Wire & Cable ASIA – January/February 2009
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In the important Legacy of Place gauge, which looks
at share of manufacturing employment, among other
factors, the Cleveland metro ranks low; Akron, lower. Brad
Whitehead, director of the regional Fund for Our Economic
Future, told the Plain Dealer, “We’re too dependent on
slow-growth industries,” like auto manufacturing.
Automotive
The ‘Big Three’ persuade Washington,
but critics of a timely aid package
are unconvinced
The US Congress in late September voted in favour of
$25 billion in low-interest (around 5%) loans for the ailing
domestic auto industry, enabling the car makers to address
immediate needs in a period of tight credit and flux in the
capital markets. The boost from Washington was construed,
in loftier terms, as a means of helping General Motors,
Ford Motor, and Chrysler to modernise their plants for the
development and production of fuel-efficient vehicles.
The aid package does, indeed, require auto makers to invest
in cars that achieve 25% better fuel mileage than similar
vehicles in the same class, and much early commentary
emphasised that goal – together with job security.
“American auto companies are facing huge challenges,”
said Sen Carl Levin, the Michigan Democrat whose
constituency includes Detroit. “[The loans] will help our
companies stay competitive in the global marketplace and
ensure that these technologies enter the market place and
continue to be manufactured in America.”
“It’s a huge victory for our members, for US manufacturing
companies, and for American consumers,” said United
Auto Workers (UAW) president Ron Gettelfinger. “This is a
smart investment that will speed the introduction of more
fuel-efficient vehicles and also create tens of thousands
of good-paying US manufacturing jobs.” But critics of the
congressional beneficence point out that many foreign auto
makers with factories in the US face similar problems to
those confronting the domestics. As noted by Antonio Perez
in the Epoch Times (“US Gives $25 Billion to Auto Industry,”
30
th
September), these voices assert that the US auto
industry “should face market realities and stop portraying
itself as a victim.”
That view was expressed in an editorial in the Christian
Science Monitor: “Despite a slowing US economy, Toyota
and Honda saw only single-digit losses in their August sales.
Nissan’s sales were up. Those companies know how to run
successful auto manufacturing plants in the US and aren’t
asking for help.” (“How Not to Rescue the Big Three,” 5
th
September). Detroit, the Boston-based editors claim, “is no
more deserving than many other US industries – textiles,
furniture, toys – that have failed to compete well against
foreign companies.”
The same Ron Gettelfinger quoted above also welcomed
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❖
another piece of news affecting the union he heads.
But this time the UAW membership at a Mitsubishi plant
in the central Illinois city of Normal ratified a contract