General Motors: GM's $1 billion investment for EV production in Mexico draws flak from UAW

General Motors announced on Thursday, April 29, that it will be investing $1 billion to produce electric vehicles at a plant in Mexico. GM stated that it would build a new painting facility that is expected to start operating in June at Ramos Arizpe, a city in Mexico.

GM’s plans in the Mexican production site

The building is part of General Motor’s preparation for the production of its own EVs that will begin in 2023. The said site in the Mexican state is a complex that currently has facilities that assemble conventional internal-combustion vehicles such as the Chevrolet Blazer and Equinox SUV models.

As per Reuters, the company’s expansion in Ramos Arizpe will also include provisions to make batteries and other types of electronic parts. The carmaker already has four plants for EV production and these are located in the U.S. and Canada. The expansion in Mexico is also part of GM’s move to halt its sales of gas-powered vehicles by 2035.

"I'm sure this investment will contribute to continue boosting Mexican manufacturing while bringing development to the region, the industry and the country," GM’s Mexican unit president, Francisco Garza, said via webcast this week.

Criticisms over GM’s new investment plan

While this is a big plan for General Motors, it did not get good feedback from the United Auto Workers (UAW). The group criticized the automaker’s decision to build its EVs in Mexico because the company could have employed the members of the union in the U.S. instead.

Moreover, the workers’ group pointed out that the U.S. is planning to implement new incentives for electric vehicle makers in the country, but despite this, GM still opted to operate in Mexico.

“At a time when General Motors is asking for a significant investment by the U.S. government in subsidizing electric vehicles, this is a slap in the face for not only UAW members and their families but also for U.S. taxpayers and the American workforce,” UAW vice president of the GM division, Terry Dittes, wrote in a press release.

He further explained that GM vehicles that are manufactured in Mexico are being sold in the U.S., so it is only right that the production should just be in the country and employ American workers. “That is why our nation is investing in these companies. Taxpayer money should not go to companies that utilize labor outside the U.S. while benefiting from American government subsidies,” Diites concluded his statement.