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US demonstrators demand end to cutting of well-paid car haulage jobs
18 November 2009
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| Protest outside the Italian embassy in Washington DC [Photo: Teamsters] | |
US trade unionists and consumer protection advocates joined forces in the US capital recently to protest against the destruction of professional car haulage jobs.
The delegation staged its demonstration outside the Italian embassy in Washington DC on 5 November to highlight how US carmaker Chrysler and its Italian ally Fiat are destroying jobs in the US. Fiat chief executive, Sergio Marchionne is also chief executive of Chrysler; Fiat also owns part of Chrysler.
The delegation delivered a letter from Teamsters general president Jim Hoffa to Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, president of the Council of Ministers and the presidents of the Italian Senate and Chamber of Deputies.
In the letter, Hoffa expresses concern that billions in taxpayers’ dollars on both sides of the Atlantic are not being used to establish a sustainable recovery at Fiat-Chrysler. He calls on the Italian government to hold Fiat-Chrysler and its chief executive, Sergio Marchionne, accountable for the company’s actions, which, he says, are harming consumer interests, and destroying thousands of well-paid jobs in the US car haulage industry.
The protestors also delivered a report - Damaged when delivered? How bailed-out auto giants are ripping off American consumers - to embassy staff, who explained that it would be forwarded to the Italian ambassador to the US. The report looks at the risks to vehicles and consumers when car companies use low cost, inexperienced car haulage drivers to transport new vehicles.
Teamsters car haulage division director Fred Zuckerman said: “We are at the Italian Embassy because we are standing up to the ‘bailout bandits’.
“Fiat-Chrysler got $14 billion in American taxpayer money and we’re here to say we won’t allow them to use that money to restructure an industry in a way that destroys American jobs, increases the danger of driving on our highways, and hurts the American consumer.”
The Teamsters and consumer advocates are delivering the same message to US carmaker General Motors, which received $50 billion in American taxpayer bailout money. It too is moving work to low-cost car haulage companies.
More information: www.CarBuyersBeware.com.
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