Letter to the President
Letter to the President
The President
The White House
Washington, DC 20500
Dear Mr. President:
When we last met in Michigan on February 20, you told me you could not make America's automakers profitable, but you could show them a better way. In the following months, our domestic automakers have made tremendous strides toward a return to profitability through comprehensive restructuring plans.
These recovery blueprints are designed to ensure the long-term strength of this critical industry that supports nearly 4.5 million jobs. While the implementation of these plans has had considerable and immediate effects on the lives of tens of
thousands of workers, their families, and their communities, the results to date reflect a common understanding about needed changes to retool the industry for a globally competitive marketplace.
Just this past week, General Motors and Delphi announced that 47,600 hourly workers had accepted attrition packages, helping GM alone save more than $8 billion in annual costs. Ford Motor Company reported last month that its Way
Forward plan is on target to help it return to profitability in North America by 2008. And DaimlerChrysler continues to post overall manufacturing productivity improvements that are leading the industry and helping Chrysler weather these very difficult times for American-based automakers. These efforts could not have been successful without the active engagement of represented workers and their leadership.
I share the concern of others in Michigan about continued postponements of a meeting between you and our automotive leaders that, according to the Detroit News, remains unscheduled.1 While the companies continue to transform themselves, their leaders are eager to meet with you to discuss many issues that would lead to a better way of maintaining America's superior position in the design, production and sales of 21st century cars and trucks.
These issues include not only pension and health care legacy costs, unfair trade, currency manipulation, and intellectual property theft, but also federal initiatives to propel the use of renewable fuels such as E-85 ethanol, biodiesel and
other promising fuel and vehicle technologies. Taken together, such investments would provide a properly targeted partnership with your Administration to assure a fair global playing field, good paying American jobs, and the health of our nation's
manufacturing sector.
I urge you to grant a meeting as soon as possible to our domestic automobile industry leaders to resolve critical issues and avoid severe harm to our nation's manufacturing sector and overall economic prosperity.
Sincerely yours,
Jennifer M. Granholm
Governor
1 Detroit News, "Big Three Rebuffed Third Time By Bush", June 22, 2006.
http://www.michigan.gov/documents/President_Letter_7_5_2006_auto_meeting_164464_7.pdf