IMF-GM Action group sets priorities

GLOBAL: The 3rd IMF-General Motors Action Group, which met recently in Toronto, Canada, underlined in particular the need for closer cooperation and improved communications in this time of far-reaching changes in the global auto industry. The current downturn is causing a new wave of corporate restructuring, to which GM is not immune. Areas representing priorities for information exchange via the IMF-GM Network concern:

• corporate restructuring and outsourcing announcements and implementation, including changes in production capacity, employment, and production- or work-organization; this includes joint ventures within or outside the GM Alliance (GM, Fiat, Fuji, Suzuki, and Isuzu);
• respect of worker and union rights in GM operations;
• negotiations, conflicts, and agreements with respect to the two above points.

Among other decisions of the IMF-GM Action Group, it is requesting the IMF to organise a worldwide network that will include the unions represented in this Action Group, the regional General Motors Committees, and any other organised GM operations that are not covered by these bodies. The IMF has also been asked to develop and implement an Internet-based instrument for information exchange among unions active in General Motors worldwide. In addition to information exchange, the Action Group will be submitting suggestions to the IMF Auto Department for common strategies vis-à-vis the global General Motors agenda.