Mitsubishi jobs hang in the balance

Bob Briton

"I would say to Mitsubishi that this is a strong economy with a 
good business environment and they ought to consider that very 
cheerfully." — Federal Treasurer Peter Costello, March 4, 
2004.

Cheerfulness was in short supply last week at Mitsubishi's 
Tonsley and Lonsdale plants in Adelaide's southern suburbs. 
Workers had just learnt over the internet [!] that Daimler 
Chrysler had decided not to sink any further funds into the 
ailing Mitsubishi Motor Corporation (MMC) or increase its share-
holding from 37 percent to 50 per cent. Mitsubishi will now have 
to rally other investors to get relief from estimated debts of 
$10 billion globally with projected losses for this year of 
nearly another billion.

As a result, the future of Mitsubishi's operations in Australia 
is uncertain. For months SA Mike Rann and Mitsubishi Australia 
Limited President Tom Philips had been angrily denying reports 
that the future of the plants was in doubt.

Reports in the Japanese newspaper Asashi Shimbum last month that 
the corporation was looking to shed 4500 jobs internationally 
were shrugged off. The idea that Mitsubishi would cut and run 
after having committed $200 million to upgrades in readiness for 
the new Magna model next year was derided as preposterous.

Last week, however, all the corporate and political heavyweights 
were singing a much more feeble tune. "We hope they can stay and 
I want to give that assurance to the workers and to the 
management of Mitsubishi in South Australia", said John Howard in 
a statement giving the most lightweight "assurance" imaginable. 
"This issue is way above politics, it's about people's lives", 
claimed Federal Industry Minister Ian Macfarlane, which is a bit 
rich coming from a government that has expressed no concern about 
the many jobs shed by banks, Telstra and other corporations.

The 3500 workers at the Adelaide Mitsubishi plants will have to 
wait for reviews to be completed in Tokyo next month to know what 
the future holds for them. Another 22,000 workers employed by 
component parts suppliers could also be affected.

SA Treasurer Kevin Foley says that Australian governments, both 
state and federal, have virtually no power in these sorts of 
circumstances.

This powerlessness of governments illustrates the point that 
private corporations will do as they please irrespective of the 
consequences for workers and their families.

In 2002, Mr Foley was talking tough. His government and the 
Commonwealth had just given Mitsubishi $85 million of taxpayers' 
money as a sweetener to keep its operations in Australia. There 
was a lot of bluster that assistance would only be given in 
future if companies made a commitment to the community on issues 
like jobs.

The icy response from Daimler Chrysler to Mitsubishi's problems 
has deflated all the hype. Mitsubishi could well decide to speed 
up the consolidation of its manufacturing facilities in Thailand. 
The Thai Government is spending up big and offering "investment 
privileges" to carmakers as part of a drive to turn the country 
into the "Detroit of Asia" by 2010. The number four carmaker in 
Japan has already closed a plant that used to employ 1100 
autoworkers in the Gifu prefecture in Japan.

Workers worldwide are set to suffer for a series of management 
errors. Mitsubishi has few new models. Quality control is less 
effective than with major competitors — 148 problems per 100 
vehicles compared to the competitors' average of 133. The US 
branch of the corporation burned a lot of money selling cars with 
loans involving no interest and no payments for 12 months. A lot 
of customers ultimately could not afford the vehicles and had to 
hand them back.

In Adelaide, unions are due to meet with management this week to 
talk about the threat to local jobs. There have been suggestions 
that the current EBA could be simply "rolled over" into the new 
one without any claims being made.

Experience shows, however, that this course does not guarantee 
jobs either. Until corporations are brought under control, and 
that means control by a worker friendly government, they will 
continue to throw workers on the scrap heap whenever their 
profits and the interests of shareholders are threatened. The 
auto industry should come under public control.

Another major lesson from these developments is that the union 
movement must speed up efforts to organise on the same global 
basis as the manufacturing companies that employ the workers.