GM <GM> MAY CEASE U.S. CAR ASSEMBLY - LABOR CHIEF
General Motors Corp believes it must
become competitive with other with auto manufacturers in the
next five years or cease building its cars in the U.S., a
published report said.
    The Detroit Free Press quoted GM industrial relations
vice-president Alfred Warren as saying "we've got about three
to five years to either get our act together or get out of the
business."
    "People cannot believe we could stop building automobiles
in the United States," he said, adding "I'm sure the
electronics people felt the same way."
    Warren, who will be GM's chief negotiator this summer in
labor bargaining on a new contract covering 380,000 U.S. hourly
workers, said there will be a greater loss of jobs if GM's
share of the U.S. car market continues to decline.
    And he added the United Automobile Workers union must
resolve its concerns over job security with GM because its
"jobs are at General Motors...not somewhere else."
    Warren said GM may have been "foolish" in the last
recession to agree to bring back laid-off UAW members to its
parts-making operations because "today we would be better off
had we not brought workers back."
 Reuter
