UAW Invokes Trump’s ‘Buy American,’ Urges Boycott of GM’s Outsourcing to Mexico

The United Auto Workers (UAW) union is invoking President Trump’s “Buy American, Hire American” platform in its efforts to urge consumers to boycott GM for outsourcing U.S. manufacturing and American jobs to Mexico, China, and Poland.

Since GM executives announced the multinational corporation would lay off 14,700 workers in North America — including at least 3,300 American factory workers — the UAW is hitting back, invoking Trump’s economic nationalist agenda of “Buy American, Hire American.”

“The President has taken important steps to adhere to the concept that the U.S. government and consumers should Buy American,” UAW President Gary Jones said in a statement. “When consumers invest in the products of U.S. workers, we each make an investment in all of us.”

“And it’s not just government,” Jones said. “Companies like General Motors have an obligation to build where they sell and stop exporting jobs abroad. After all, we invested in General Motors in their darkest days. Now they need to invest in us.”

In 2019, GM will stop production at four American plants, including Detroit-Hamtramck and Warren Transmission in Michigan, Lordstown Assembly in Ohio, and Baltimore Operations in Maryland. This comes after GM laid off about 1,500 American workers in Lordstown in 2018, while their Mexico production remained unaffected.

Next week, at least 4,000 American GM white-collar workers are set to be laid off. At the same time, GM CEO Mary Barra continues raking in about $22 million a year.

Meanwhile, GM is ramping up production of electric cars in China and offshoring its American workforce overseas, where the corporation will be able to cut hundreds of millions in labor costs to widen their profit margins.

In Poland, GM builds the Buick Cascada coupe but sells the vehicle in the U.S. Similarly, GM is manufacturing its Buick Envision compact SUV and Cadillac CT6 sedan in China while manufacturing the Chevrolet Cruze, the Chevrolet Equinox SUV, the Chevrolet Trax compact SUV, the Chevrolet Silverado, the GMC Sierra, the Chevrolet Blazer SUV, and the GMC Terrain SUV all in Mexico.

In a new ad campaign, the UAW is slamming GM for their outsourcing and offshoring of American jobs and U.S. manufacturing, urging American consumers to boycott all GM products manufactured in China and Mexico.

“As profit and Wall Street shareholder gains soared and as other automakers retooled and invested in the U.S., GM started pulling investments from the U.S.,” the ad states. “Now after making $12 billion last year, GM is ripping the rug out from under the communities, the taxpayers, and the workers that invested in them.”

“GM is making a choice to put enormous profits and Wall Street ahead of American workers, but they don’t have to,” the ad continues. “UAW members and American taxpayers invested in GM and saved the company, now it’s GM’s turn to invest in us.”

The Canadian auto workers union Unifor will run their ad against GM’s outsourcing to Mexico, China, and Poland during the Superbowl. That ad slams GM, stating “You may have forgotten our generosity, but we’ll never forget your greed. You want to sell here. Build here,” according to the Detroit Free Press.

In addition to the video ad, the UAW has put up a series of billboards around the Detroit area, urging GM to remain in the U.S. and asking consumers to boycott the corporation’s Chinese, Mexican, and Polish-made vehicles.

John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter at @JxhnBinder.