by Ned K.
On Friday 2 November General Motor’s fully owned Holden subsidiary
announced the loss of 170 jobs at its Elizabeth plant in the northern working
class suburbs of Adelaide.
This follows the sacking of over 200
workers earlier this year and yet another government hand out of $275 million.
Holden management blame the economic slump and competition from imported cars,
and this is echoed by both state and federal governments.
While it is true that the boom – bust
cycles of capitalism and overproduction inevitably result in profits before
jobs, General Motors in Australia have been scaling back production in
Australia since the 1970s and decimating the car component industry in
Australia along the way.
Taxpayer dollars
The Chifley ALP Government in the
1940s gave General Motors Holden £2.5 million Australian pounds to fund the
first Holden car. General Motors parent corporation did not put in a penny,
according to Laurence Harnett in his book Big
Wheels Little Wheels.
Not much has changed since then.
Millions of tax payers’ dollars have gone to General Motors over the years, but
General Motors Holden has remained 100% US owned.
“When the General Talks, You Better
Listen To Him”, a song by Midnight Oil, describes the subservience of
successive Australian and state governments toward this US multinational
company.
In fact, the subservience towards
General Motors is a microcosm of subservience by governments in Australia to US
imperialism, present governments included.
Nationalise General Motors Holden
The only short term solution is for
the people to demand that the government nationalise Holden before it
disappears completely. It can be done if the people’s voice is loud enough.
When Rudd was Prime Minster he had a
plan of sorts to have an electric car built at the Holden Elizabeth plant. So
the politicians know that car workers, from top engineers to the production
line workers themselves, have the skills, knowledge and will to build vehicles
here for Australian conditions.
They don’t need ‘the General’ to do
it. In fact, to build a modern car in Australia, ‘the General’ is the main
obstacle. Nationalising GMH would be an important, but small step towards an
independent Australia and signal the primary role of workers in this struggle
for independence.
No comments:
Post a Comment