WASHINGTON (AFP) — President Barack Obama is to reach out to workers in the battered US auto sector on Tuesday, announcing the establishment of a policy panel to address their woes.
The White House is to create a "Council on Automotive Communities and Workers," which will be charged to recommending policies that would help auto workers, an administration official said.
After decades of industry decline, workers have recently been buffeted by plant closures, slumping car sales and production plant sell-offs.
According to the government's own estimates, 400,000 jobs have been lost in the industry.
Big names like General Motors and Chrysler have been brought to their knees, forced to lend tens of billions from the government to keep afloat.
Obama has ushered the firms toward bankruptcy in order to hive-off non-core businesses, but it has come at a political cost for the administration.
Bankruptcy has shuttered some factories and put dealerships and parts manufacturers on notice, as the impact of the crisis continues to trickling down across the sector.
But Obama will hope to capitalize on some glimmers of hope.
Chrysler, which emerged from bankruptcy protection earlier this month, has said it will resume production at seven of its North American assembly plants at the end of the month.
The panel is expected to be announced later Tuesday by Vice President Joe Biden during a visit to Perrysburg, Ohio, where one firm is making state-of-the-art solar panels.
But it will be Obama who signs it into existence through an executive order.
The panel will be headed by "car czar" Ed Montgomery.
No comments:
Post a Comment