Mexico: partial unemployment intensifies at General Motors and Chrysler

To exhaust its stocks, in Silao, central Mexico, General Motors (GM) will enforce eight weeks of technical unemployment as of Monday, June 01. This measure should have originally started in mid-may, but it was postponed. Over 10,000 workers will be affected by the suspension: in addition to the 4,500 employees of the site, around 10 local firms providing parts to the American manufacturer and 8,000 workers will be forced into inactivity. Like GM’s employees, they will receive 50% of their salary during this forced unemployment period. Chevrolet Avalanche, Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra models are made at the Silao factory. GM’s other Mexican factories are not better off. The Ramos Arizpe complex, in the north of the country, will repeat, from June 1 to June 5 and from June 22 to June 24, the suspension measures carried out on May 18-22. This is where the Chevy, Chevrolet HHR, Saturn, Vue and Chevrolet Captiva Sport are made. In San Luis Potosi, where the Chevrolet Aveo, Pontiac G3 Sedan and Pontiac G3 Hatchback are made, the site will be closed for the first two weeks of June. The Confederation of Mexican Workers (Confederación de Trabajadores de México, CTM), one of the largest unions in the country, thinks that the company’s precarious situation in the United States shouldn’t lead to the permanent closure of Mexican factories. On the contrary, the CTM thinks that General Motors might partially transfer production from the US to Mexico.