the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist
“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx
the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist
“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx
Feb 20, 2012
General Motors just reported 2011 annual profits that were the largest in its 103-year history–7.6 BILLION dollars.
Automobile sales are down at the same time GM’s profits are up. In 2011, U.S. sales of cars and trucks were about 12.8 million vehicles. This is nowhere near the 16.8 million in yearly sales that was the average from 2000 to 2007.
With sales down, how are record profits possible? From the theft of wages and benefits from workers, that’s how. GM stole retiree healthcare from union and salaried workers. GM pushed half pay for new hires and no pensions. GM froze seniority workers’ wages. The list goes on and on.
The estimated $7,000 in profit “sharing” that GM workers will receive doesn’t begin to make up for all the money that workers have lost through years of concessions. It doesn’t even match what GM workers lose in one year to all the accumulated concessions.
Money that used to be in workers’ pockets, allowing them to buy more cars, has been transferred to the vaults of bankers and investors.
On top of this, under the bailout deal, GM now pays hardly any U.S. taxes, also pumping profits.
Record profits? They come from record theft!