By David Shepardson
WASHINGTON, Oct 20 (Reuters) - Michigan Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers and the United Auto Workers union found rare common ground on Tuesday, separately accusing General Motors of putting shareholders ahead of workers after the automaker unveiled a new $20 billion stock buyback plan.
Rogers, a former US House member, accused GM of wrongly investing in electric vehicles.
"GM lost billions investing in EVs nobody wanted. For two years, GM could have focused on reinvesting
in Michigan workers and manufacturing vehicles consumers actually want to buy. Instead, they chose to put profits over people, and Michigan autoworkers will pay the price," Rogers said in a statement.
Rogers is competing against Democrat Abdul El-Sayed in a closely watched Senate race and hopes to flip the seat to Republican control. Republicans have increasingly courted autoworkers and other blue-collar voters in Michigan, whose economy remains closely tied to the auto industry.
Polls through mid-October generally show El-Sayed ahead in the November 3 election by a few points, though several surveys have fallen within the margin of error.
The United Auto Workers, which has endorsed El-Sayed, also condemned the buyback, calling it "outrageous" when 80% of GM autoworkers do not have pensions or retiree healthcare benefits and saying the automaker was "choosing Wall Street profits over blue-collar America."
Rogers did not elaborate on how GM's electric vehicle investments contributed to the buyback decision. The company has bought back about $29.5 billion in stock since 2023, and CEO Mary Barra said GM viewed its shares as undervalued.
Asked to comment on the criticism, GM said its "first priority is investing in our business and our employees. Since 2020, we’ve reinvested more than $100 billion to fund our growth, including in our products, our factories, and our people."
The criticism was unusual for Rogers, who has generally focused on denouncing government policies promoting electric vehicles rather than on automakers themselves.
El-Sayed did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
UAW President Shawn Fain said stock buybacks "are a form of legalized mass looting, sending billions of dollars generated by the working class directly to Wall Street investors who've never seen the inside of a factory."
GM has scaled back electric vehicle production and investment plans amid softer EV demand and policy changes under President Donald Trump. The automaker has recorded $11.2 billion in EV-related charges since last year.
Rogers has frequently criticized policies aimed at accelerating electric vehicle adoption and appeared with Trump at a campaign-style event at a GM facility in Michigan in July. The candidate and president argued such policies threaten US manufacturing jobs.
(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
