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As UAW Negotiates, Toyota Workers Eye Unionization

Agent009 submitted on 7/31/2007 Official Bell & Ross Timestamp: 11:52:43 AM

24 user comments | Category: Misc News | Source: | SOURCE: www.autonews.com

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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As UAW Negotiates, Toyota Workers Eye Unionization

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Agent009

"If everything seems under control, you're just not going fast enough."

— Agent009 (View Profile)


User Comments

Johnel

houstoncutie2000 if you owned the company would you be so happy to pay these lazy asses 75 dollars an hour plus health care and pension. Would you also be happy to run your company to the ground until its bankrupt?

If so then the founder of the company would be rolling in his grave.

— Johnel (View Profile)

Posted on 7/31/2007 5:44:13 PM | reply to this comment | Votes: 3   

Agent009

I agree with you fully, however in general as a rule the automakers put a plant in areas where the labor pool is relatively cheap such as rural areas.

Since these jobs can be some of the best in the area you may see a different mentality.

— Agent009 (View Profile)

Posted on 7/31/2007 12:28:31 PM | reply to this comment | Votes: -1   

cktoo

Man, you are all over the place. What conservatives in the Southern auto plants are voting for unions?? There's not a plant in the South that I know of that are unionized, especially with the help of a bunch of "conservatives". Plus, most of these people that might be associated or in a union might have other reasons for being in one political party or another.

— cktoo (View Profile)

Posted on 7/31/2007 10:54:23 PM | reply to this comment | Votes: 1   

Will_

If Toyota caves into the UAW I will be surprised. I however wont be surprised when all these U.S. factories get sent elsewhere. Toyota wont just sit back and watch its empire be ruined by this like the Big 3 did.

— Will_ (View Profile)

Posted on 7/31/2007 12:33:05 PM | reply to this comment | Votes: 5   

quizz

Unions didn't ruin the big 3, complacency did. MB, Audi/VW and BMW have to deal with the worst unions in the world. American unions are nothing compared to European auto unions. Had the Big 3 hired better designers and produced better cars, the union would be a non-issue. The reason why BMW and MB moved their plants to the U.S. is to avoid their tougher labor rules in Germany.

— quizz (View Profile)

Posted on 7/31/2007 1:36:26 PM | | Votes: 0   

Bmw8ter

Toyota would be opening up a can of worms if they unionize. Things are fairly civil now without the union, but piss off the UAW once they're in place and see what happens. They would be forfeiting control.

— Bmw8ter (View Profile)

Posted on 7/31/2007 2:07:24 PM | reply to this comment | Votes: 1   

Johnel

damikco, stop livng in the past.

Yes back in the old days Unions were useful. in Todays market their is no use for these overpaid and underworked lazy a-holes.

I hate Unions with a passion.

I used to work at the GM Plant in Ste Therese, Quebec Canada, were Camaro's and Firebirds were built.

My main function was quality control.

I would be given 4 pallets which contained 44 doors for both Camaro and Firbirds.

According to the Union they told me each pallet should take me 45 minutes to verify.

All I had to do is verify the circumfrence of the keyhole and depth by using a special tool device that had 2 LED lights that would light up green for pass and red for fail. Also i had to verify that the screws on the hinges were flush.

I have no idea where the Union got their 45 minute timing per rack.

A whole rack would take me at Max 10 minutes to verify

The 4 pallets accoring to Union should have taken me 3 hours to verify, when i reality it only took me 45 minutes for all 4 pallets.

So the rest of the time I am just sitting twidling my thumbs getting bored to death.

Just across from where i was was this young woman in her late 20's or early 30's who was lifting these inner wheel wells.

I saw she was struggling to lift them up, so i went to help her out.

15 minutes later I get called to the office, and i am actually getting my ass chewed off because i helped her out.

I was told if you are ahead of schedule and done verifying your pallets, to go buy a newspaper or go to the cafeteria, and not to help anyone.

To which I was astounded by their reaction.

Then those son of a bitches who chewed my ass off, have the audacity to meet GM management and have the nerve to tell GM management that 2 people are needed in that inner wheel well position.

2 weeks later I get hit by a forlift whos beeper wasn't functioning when backing up. Ran over my foot, the steel toe boot may have saved my bones from being crushed, but I still ended up being off 2 months to heal.

Where was the F'en Union? The so called protector.

It was GM management that came to my rescue drove me to their clinic removed my boot placed ice packs to bring down the swelling.

GM then called a cab put me in it with one of their reps brought me to the orthopedist for x-rays, lucky for me nothing was broken. From their we took cab to see another specialist at the hospital checked the x-rays said I was very lucky to escape serious injury. torn ligaments was about all i had.

Drove back to GM from the hospital with the GM rep at my side reporting and giving other GM officials the 2 Doctors report.

GM then called a cab to send me home.

GM even delivered my car that was in their parking lot to my home the day after.

GM was a class act, my union rep no where to be found.

Union was fast in getting the compensation chque from GM, but when I tried to get it from the Union it was like pulling sharks teeth with a tweezer.

Where i com

— Johnel (View Profile)

Posted on 7/31/2007 6:38:23 PM | | Votes: 4   

Johnel

Where I come from is when you finish your work and have spare time, go help your fellow worker and ask ur boss to cross train you.

Unions promote laziness, there fast to collect their dues off your pay cheques, but when its time to p[ay you, then all I have to say is good luck.

— Johnel (View Profile)

Posted on 7/31/2007 6:41:47 PM | | Votes: 4   

Bmw8ter

so what you're saying is they need to unionize because people aren't smart enough to realize the risks associated with factory work, and because Toyota is making too much money, and making their nonunion workers suffer? I guess that's why some of them have been around so long.

IMO, unions do nothing but foster lazyness and idiocy. I work in construction, and at my current site, it's an all union contract(all unions are relative to each other). I've ran contracts for both sides, and honestly, union workers are make way more than a non union worker(obviously) but once a contract gets ready to expire, their demands for renegotiation are so absurd, it'd make a used carsalesman blush. And then they go on strike f'ing up the whole schedule because no one wants to meet their crazy demands.

They stop working almost entirely one hour before leaving time. Once the bell rings for lunch or days end or for a break, they stop what they're doing and just leave without completing what they're working on. They feel like they're protected by a shield and become more complacent as time goes on. Quality remains the same as compensation increases...sounds a little like inflation for workplace.

If Toyota unionizes, there is no doubt in my mind, quality will decrease, profit will decrease, product costs will increase to offset profit losses despite the fact the product will be inferior to those in the past. Me as a consumer, sees no advantage to unionization.

Now, unionization wouldn't be such a bad Idea if the unions could "effectively" prove that unionization would increase productivity and quality, but that just simply isn't the case, and hasn't been as of late. Their tactics, IMO, are more greed motivated.

Unionization also makes it tougher for people in a certain area to get hired as well; "are you union". "no". "well you can't work here". Yes, it happens. In some instances chain companies that are supported by union workers(Dillards) move into an area, and deprive some of those citizens of the ability to work at a job THAT'S IN THEIR AREA. This happened where I'm located, and they relocated out of city and out of state workers to fill the positions rather than soliciting for new hires. This is a good example of the greed that comes with unionization.

Like I said previously, once in place, the union will have control, and not for the benefit of the millions, but for the hundreds of workers who made the decision to work there in the first place under "such deplorable conditions".

Just my 2 cents.

— Bmw8ter (View Profile)

Posted on 7/31/2007 5:25:59 PM | reply to this comment | Votes: 4   

Bmw8ter

my response was for.......damikco

— Bmw8ter (View Profile)

Posted on 7/31/2007 8:45:53 PM | | Votes: 1   

Bmw8ter

There's obviously no credability to your comment so, as you put it, QUIT POSTING B.S YOU LOSER...

— Bmw8ter (View Profile)

Posted on 8/2/2007 6:31:20 AM | | Votes: 1   

sold2early

I'd like to know how many times Autospies plans to post this non-story. It's been at least 3 times so far.

— sold2early (View Profile)

Posted on 7/31/2007 8:15:04 PM | reply to this comment | Votes: 1   

sold2early

I guess we're just seeing the summer re-runs. Maybe in the next few months they can retire this story when new car models are introduced.

— sold2early (View Profile)

Posted on 7/31/2007 8:17:12 PM | reply to this comment | Votes: 1   

tincanman99

You like having medical benefits today?
How about the 40 hour work week?
How about paid vacation and holidays?
How about child labor laws?
How about OSHA?
How about unemployment insurance?
How about workmans comp?

Do you honestly thing that companies would have given this to you out of the goodness of their hearts. If it was up to them they would pay you .25 cents per hour like they do in China and you would get no bennies, no medical, no vacation, NO NOTHING.

Unions have their place. They balance out the power of the corporations. As someone said I dont see foreign car companies going bankrupt because of their unions.

The car companies are in trouble because they have 30 YEARS to get with the program but did not. As soon as gas got cheap they went right back to building whatever was cheapest to build so they could bypass the laws. In this case it was SUV's. I dont feel one once of sympathy for these companies that have a line up of almost ALL SUVs.

The root cause of these companies failing is management and product design. I dont see the executives at any of these companies taking pay cuts and taking less benefits.

Get real and stop voting against your own economic self interests.

— tincanman99 (View Profile)

Posted on 8/1/2007 9:03:09 AM | reply to this comment | Votes: -1   

Bmw8ter

"Get real and stop voting against your own economic self interests"

I think it's safe to say we're all voting "for", not against, our own economic self interests.

— Bmw8ter (View Profile)

Posted on 8/1/2007 10:01:31 AM | | Votes: 2   

Bmw8ter

"Get real and stop voting against your own economic self interests"

I think it's safe to say we're all voting "for", not against, our own economic self interests.

— Bmw8ter (View Profile)

Posted on 8/1/2007 10:01:25 AM | reply to this comment | Votes: 2   

Bmw8ter

my bad...

— Bmw8ter (View Profile)

Posted on 8/1/2007 10:02:21 AM | | Votes: 1   

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