The largest American automobile manufacturer, General Motors, went bankrupt in 2009 and had to be partly nationalised. Since one of its labour unions also bought a substantial amount of its stock, it would be correct to say that it was partly “mutualised” at the same time. Today the company is back in profit, having overcome the appalling losses of recent years.
In 2011 General Motors (GM) increased its sales by 13% and its turnout was 2.500 million dollars. Now the company is successful again GM workers union does not want it to be sold to the private sector. They want to transform it in a cooperative similar to Mondragón.
The results of the nationalization of GM were recently known after E.J. Dionea published an article in The Washington Post. The article revealed that the company, which had lost 4.3000 million dollars in the worst moment of the crisis, had a turnout of 2.500 million dollars in 2011. The nationalization was crucial to avoid massive dismissals in 2009.
The union believes that GM should not be sold to another private corporation. To this end, the workers have asked cooperative Mondragón from the Basque Country for advice on how to transform one of the biggest manufacturing companies in the world into a cooperative.
Source: nuevatribuna.es
