As US auto workers negotiate with the faltering Detroit 3 under intense pressure to surrender benefits, employees at Toyota's flagship U.S. plant want what their blue-collar counterparts in Detroit have: union representation.
At least some do. Union drives at Toyota's Georgetown, Ky., plant have ebbed and flowed since it opened in 1988, with supporters battling to convince doubters that joining the United Auto Workers union will improve their lives.
The specter of crumbling fortunes at General Motors, Ford Motor Co. and the Chrysler group haunt the union debate at the U.S. arm of Toyota Motor Corp.
Union supporters argue that the Japanese automaker rode to a $14 billion profit last year on the backs of its nonunion workers, while doubters fear unionization would leave Toyota as crippled as its Detroit competitors -- or provoke retaliation.
The stakes are especially high now as the three Detroit-based automakers, which lost nearly $15 billion combined last year, press the UAW for sweeping concessions that would bring their own hourly labor costs in line with what it costs Toyota to run its Georgetown plant.
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