Will General Motors swallow Chrysler?

Corporate mergers go by different names. They may be called a partnership, alliance, takeover (friendly or hostile) or even “a marriage of equals.” In 1999 Michael Moore staged a mock “wedding” between Daimler and Chrysler.

For workers at Chrysler and General Motors, it doesn’t matter what the industry experts call it. What’s important for the 266,000 GM and 66,000 Chrysler workers around the world is that the merger of the two giants appears imminent. According to unnamed sources, Wall Street is pushing hard for it to go through before Election Day, if possible.

When it comes to jobs, Chrysler workers know the score all too well. In 1986, just six years after filing for bankruptcy, Chrysler was strong enough to buy American Motors. The Big Three were now really only three. AMC plants were shuttered almost immediately. Within a few years the Jeep brand was all that was left of the 32-year-old company, which itself was a merger of Nash, Hudson and later Jeep.

In 1999 the German conglomerate Daimler-Benz bought out Chrysler. In 2001, after 73 years of production, the Plymouth brand was eliminated. Since the February 2007 announcement that Chrysler might be sold—it was sold six months later to the private Wall Street firm Cerberus—25,000 jobs have been slashed and more are on the chopping block.

In that same time period, GM and Ford workers suffered comparable job losses. October 2008 has seen announcements of new layoff and plant closings by GM, including the previously unmentioned closing of a Michigan stamping plant next year. That news, and news that a plant in Janesville, Wis., will be closed earlier than scheduled, lifted the price of GM stock, which had tumbled to a 60-year low.

General Motors Acceptance Corporation—the financial arm of GM of which Cerberus owns 51 percent—announced plans to lay off several thousand workers. (Associated Press, Sept. 3)

Auto columnists are speculating on the viability of a GM-Chrysler merger from a profitability standpoint. Analysts are suggesting that Cerberus wants to unload Chrysler in exchange for GM’s share of GMAC. (Reuters, Oct. 11)

Having gotten into the mortgage market, GMAC has been a drag on GM’s profits. However, if the government bailout would lift GMAC out of the red, Cerberus could consolidate GMAC and Chrysler Financial into one streamlined operation needing fewer workers. GM might benefit by eliminating a competitor, making inroads into the Jeep and minivan markets, and regaining its status as the number one automaker in the world. GM is reportedly lusting after Chrysler’s $11-billion cash reserves.

Mentioned only in passing are the staggering number of livelihoods in jeopardy. Since GM and Chrysler cater to similar markets, workers at both companies could see a repeat of the Chrysler-AMC consolidation, but on a much larger scale. More communities will be destroyed—or further destroyed—when laid-off autoworkers aren’t paying taxes or spending money they no longer have.

Unions in the U.S., Canada and Europe have made statements opposing the potential deal. Klaus Franz, head of the union representing workers at GM Europe, called it “a major catastrophe.” (Reuters, Oct. 13) The Auto Workers union, with only 33,000 members at Chrysler and 72,000 at GM, faces a bleak future if this merger occurs.

The workers—always the last to know—are being kept in the dark. News stories have contradicted one another. One had talks “gaining momentum,” yet then gave the merger a 50-50 chance. (New York Times, Oct. 16) An in-house letter from Chrysler CEO Bob Nardelli made only vague references to “third parties who are interested in exploring future possibilities with Chrysler” and stated that “to protect the integrity of our Company and those with whom we meet, we do not confirm or disclose the nature of our business meetings.”

Damn trade secrecy! The workers have a right to know! Even with all the restructuring there are still hundreds of thousands of GM and Chrysler workers—in Africa, Asia, Europe, Australia and the Americas—whose futures now hang on the edge of a cliff. They face layoffs during a deep crisis of capitalist overproduction.

The workers and their communities have invested labor and tax dollars in these plants, and they have an equity stake in keeping them open. They have the right to know and the right to say no.

Amid the fog of secrecy and outright lies one thing is clear: nothing is going to happen without Wall Street’s approval. Both Chrysler and GM are neck-deep in debt, having borrowed billions to finance their already drastic restructurings. Their creditors—JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs and a few of the other fiends now at the head of the line for a government handout—have money to lend after picking taxpayers’ pockets.

Besides, they have been raking in profits on the money they lent Cerberus to buy Chrysler, and are now pushing Cerberus to shove the stripped-down car company onto someone else—another lucrative deal for them.

This job-killing merger is a merger of cold, conniving thieves.

It’s not enough for union leaders to state the obvious: the GM-Chrysler merger would be bad. The UAW has been hamstrung by its narrow, protectionist, “Buy American” mindset. It’s time to reach out to workers of the world. Autoworkers can find common cause with those facing layoffs in retail, banking, construction, health care, food service and government.

During the Great Depression the Unemployed Councils carried signs reading, “Fight Don’t Starve!” Ford goons shot the marchers down in 1932, but the working class kept fighting. For millions losing jobs and homes and struggling to make ends meet, it’s time to “Fight Don’t Suffer!”

The writer has worked 21 years at Chrysler’s Twinsburg, Ohio, Stamping plant. E-mail:[email protected].