The United Auto Workers (UAW) made a big new push to organize Toyotaâsplant in Kentucky. The union is trying to capitalize on fears of meager pay, onoutsourcing of jobs and on the automakerâs treatment of injured workers.
The venture of the union heightened this month as private equity firmCerberus confirmed its acquisition of DCXâs Chrysler Group. The saidacquisition raised fears that the UAW will be unable to restraint the slashingof job and benefits at a privately owned Chrysler.
The Chrysler deal has underscored the unionâs reduced clout as membershiphas decreased along with jobs at the Detroit automakers. The UAW has neversucceeded in organizing a foreign auto assembly plant in the United States. ButToyota’s emergence as the world’s largest automaker has added urgency to thisventure. The union will enter new contract negotiations this summer without anyworkers from the Japanese automaker. “We’ve got a lot of work to do,” saidCharles Lite, 41, a member of the organizing group, speaking of the effort atToyota. “No more mistakes.”
The UAW and the workers have captured leaked business documents from theJapanese automaker. The documents delve on Toyotaâs plan to put a lid onmanufacturing wages in the United States. At a new factory being built inMississippi, the automaker intends to pay workers about $20 an hour in a regionwhere many people earn $12 to $13 an hour. The average Toyota worker atGeorgetown makes about $25 an hour.
Toyota officials said that the increasing pressures of the auto businesshave caused the company to reevaluate worker’s compensation policies, a matterthat has to be negotiated with the union at UAW-represented plants. At present,the fast-rising Japanese automaker is one of auto industryâs most profitablecompanies. And its officials believe that the success is very much dependent oncontrolling costs.
“We think the historic American approach to things is to run full blast, payout as high as you can in the short term while times are good, and then whentimes go bust, you lay people off, you shut plants and you destroycommunities,” said Pete Gritton, a Toyota vice president who oversees humanresources at the company’s plant. “Toyota does not want to do that.”
Gritton said that adjusting pay scales would ultimately translate intostable employment for American autoworkers. He said Toyota is seeking tomaintain cost-effective growth in the United States so it can compete withlow-wage countries such as China, Mexico and Brazil. “We are the only majormanufacturer of automobiles that is trying to grow and expand its business inthe U.S. right now,” Gritton added. “Everybody else is trying to collapse andshrink and send it to somewhere else for lower costs.”
Some Toyota workers are amenable to the plan. But others are disappointed,saying that autoworkers are losing ground. Workers expect quick and smooth flowof negotiations likened to the Taylor Cableâs performance. The issues are criticaland they need timely action.
Mike Bartley, 49, is a professional automotive journalist domiciled inIrvine, CA. He travels from one state to another to cover the hottest autoshows, racing events and automotive revelations. His penned compositions coverpress releases, reviews, and suggestions. Where the auto action is, that’sexactly where you can find Mike.