If GM makes more electric cars, there would be fewer jobs

If consumers someday leave cars fueled by electric cars, the automotive industry will be in trouble.

If that happened, thousands of jobs would disappear in engine and transmission plants throughout the industrial zone of the central region, and instead there would be small groups of workers in impeccable and mostly automated factories that would mix chemicals to make batteries.

The UAW union is very aware of this possibility now that it negotiates a labor contract with General Motors taking into account both the present and the future. Meanwhile, more than 49,000 unionized workers are on strike against the company and have closed factories for the past six days.

GM General Director Mary Barra has promised a "completely electric future," and the company is going through a restructuring to get cash in part to develop 20 electric models that it plans to sell worldwide by 2023.

In the contractual negotiation, GM has offered to build an electric battery factory in Lordstown, Ohio, where the company is closing an assembly plant. The manufacturer, according to a person informed about the offer, wants the plant to be managed by a joint venture or battery company. It would have much less unionized workers who would earn less than $ 30 per hour that UAW affiliates now earn at assembly plants, said the source, who preferred not to be identified because the details of the contracts are confidential.

For the guild, it is crucial to negotiate the best salary for Lordstown workers because battery jobs could one day replace many of the positions in GM's 10 propulsion system factories that now employ more than 10,500 earning employees per hour. .