GM and workers’ rights

General Motors, the largest auto manufacturer in the world and the pillar of U.S. industrial capi ta l ism, has announced that it will increase its layoffs planned for this year by 5,000, making a total of 30,000 jobs to be eliminated and 12 plants to be closed.

Over 98,000 jobs have been eliminated in the auto and auto supplier parts industry this year—and more are expected. The general rule is that every job lost in auto results in at least three additional jobs lost. By this estimate, the auto barons will have been responsible for the destruction of nearly 400,000 jobs just this year alone.

And GM has plans for further cutbacks. It is planning a reduction of its North American capacity by 2008, from 5.2 million to 4.2 million vehicles yearly.

Some blame GM’s problems on its management’s staking the company’s fortunes on gas-guzzling SUVs and pickup trucks. This explanation is true only when viewing the problem strictly from the point of view of GM and Ford and of U.S. workers.

But looking at the struggle of the inter national capitalist monopolies as a whole, and the international working class as a whole, the problem is capitalist production for profit and capitalist overproduction.

While GM is cutting back its capacity by 1 million autos in North America, Toyota sold 2 million cars here and is seeking to expand its capacity. The two giants, GM and Toyota, as well as the other auto monopolies, are fighting each other for markets and profits across the globe—in Latin America, China, Southeast Asia and Africa.

It is the unpaid labor of the auto workers that is the source of auto profits. Yet, under capitalism, the workers are the casualties of this economic warfare. Workers are treated as mere objects when the auto giants, spurred on by Wall Street and investors, either over-expand or shut down plants in order to stop losses and expand profits.

If GM wins the competition, workers around the world employed by Toyota lose their jobs. If Toyota wins, GM workers lose their jobs. The bosses keep their fortunes no matter what.

It is time to stop this unjust process and assert the rights of the workers, the primary creators of trillions of dollars in wealth in the auto industry. They built the industry. The workers’ right to a job, health care, retirement and a decent life should come before the rights of the profiteers who exploit their labor.