After accepting $13.4 billion in federal bailout funds to remain in operation, General Motors has announced a blatant attack on workers. GM will shutter 13 plants for as long as 11 weeks this summer and plans to discontinue the Pontiac line of automobiles. Tens of thousands of GM and supporting-industry workers will either lose their jobs or suffer a cut in pay.
Despite receiving billions in bailout money, GM has announced that it will likely file for bankruptcy, even after laying off nearly 3,400 salaried workers and drastically cutting production. According to a government filing, GM spent $2.8 million to lobby Congress in the first three months of 2009, partly no doubt to defeat the union-friendly Employee Free Choice Act.
The government requires that GM must wring further “concessions” from the United Auto Workers union to receive additional money. For the owners of General Motors and the government that represents the interests of these capitalists, the company’s worth depends on how much more in profit and interest they can force the workers to produce for GM’s executives, bondholders and shareholders.
