[JimC]

I don't want to get too political on here but I found this article to be an interesting read about GM's decision to build the Blazer in Mexico and how the UAW feels about it.

Much to the chagrin of the United Auto Workers union, GM decided to build the revitalized Blazer at a plant in Ramos Arizpe, Mexico, a move announced five months before the company put four U.S. factories on notice they’re at risk of being closed. Ever since then, the union has treated the vehicle as a pariah and symbol of long-festering grudges against the automaker’s off-shoring strategy.

To the union, “the Blazer is emblematic of everything that is wrong with the world,” said Kristin Dziczek, vice president of industry, labor and economics at the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

The Blazer and the fate of unionized workers also are contentious issues in negotiations this summer between GM and the UAW for a new four-year labor agreement. The talks were preceded by a kerfuffle over the Blazer this spring.

In March, GM hoisted a Blazer atop General Motors Fountain beyond the center-field wall at Comerica Park, home of the Detroit Tigers baseball team. When union workers found out, they attacked it as a snub to the city, raging about what they considered to be a brazen indignity on Detroit talk-radio stations and social media.

The automaker took down the Blazer before opening day and replaced it with a Chevy Traverse, which is built in Lansing, Michigan. “Did GM not know this would be a stick in the eye to workers who go to the games?” Dziczek asked rhetorically.

The union hasn’t let GM forget that apparent slight. Dan Morgan, chairman of UAW Local 1112 in Lordstown, Ohio, which faces closure, tweeted Tuesday that the Blazer is “over-priced Mexican junk! That’s why it’s not above the Tigers stadium.”

The new SUV has become a focus of anger for workers who risk losing their job if they refuse relocation to another GM plant. Regina Duley is one of about 100 workers remaining at a GM transmission plant in Warren, Michigan, who face their last week at work before their factory is idled.

“I would not buy that product,” Duley, a 21-year plant veteran, said of the Blazer during a press conference at the Local 909 union hall across the street from the Warren plant. “How could I buy that when they build it in Mexico and we have people without jobs here?”

Here's the link to the article - https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...lazer-becomes-the-political-pariah-of-detroit