Turmoil at Toyota

[Omaha Steve]

Source: HERALD-LEADER.COM


Turmoil at Toyota
Workers air complaints Sunday
By Scott Sloan
[e-mail]

Panelists from a workers' rights group will hear complaints Sunday from workers at Toyota's complex in Georgetown.

Organized by Kentucky Jobs With Justice, the panel grew out of a forum earlier this year at which some Toyota employees urged unionization of the plant.


With 7,000 full-time workers, Toyota is the largest private employer in Central Kentucky. It also has 1,000 temporary workers, including 650 on the assembly line. Above, a Camry rolled off the line at the Georgetown plant in May 2005. 2005 file photo By Brian Tietz

Though those efforts have failed since the plant opened in the '80s, the workers have begun an education campaign hinging on three main issues: the use of temporary workers, on-site injuries and concern about pay.

Underpinning each, they say, is a perceived lack of respect from Toyota, an automaker they say is more concerned about keeping its workers wary that bad times await rather than including them in the company's unprecedented success.


Read more: http://www.kentucky.com/101/story/93018.html

[applegrove]

1. It is normal protocol for corporations to say "hey we aren't making a profit" to

their workers. I see and hear it everywhere.

[TheFarseer]

2. Is it legitimate for me to say:

I hope Toyota doesn't say, "F*ck all this" and move these plants to China?

[AX10]

3. I am absolutely intrigued by DU.

There is such blind hate for corporations around here. Only when their "pet products" are in question will there be a deafening silence.
Toyota is still a corporation and they want to make money. They are smart in that they know that they have to make good products if they want to survive. They know that oil's days are numbered and other technologies will have to be developed. At the same time, Toyota has played GM's game too. Toyota dumped their electric cars at the same time that GM did. Makes you think, doesn't it? Of course there will be tensions between employer and employee. It was bound to happen someday at Toyota too. Toyota is not a saint, and GM is not a devil. Toyota is just smarter than GM.

Some DUer's get outright nasty when you question their "pet products". Toyota is one of them. I wonder how much "love" that Toyota gets around here is really just hate for GM because they embody the worst attributes of the corporate world? I do believe that GM is worthy of the critisism they get because they are making some horrible choices that are costing their workers their jobs.
At the same time, I am not that impressed with Toyota. My father's Avalon is not such a great car. The materials are subpar and flimsy. The interior panel on the front passenger door has come lose more than once and the window control button panel had to be replaced. This is a 2005 model.

[gulfcoastliberal]

4. I think the Irony is that Toyota adds to its U.S. production while Ford and GM ship plants and jobs

to Mexico and Canada. However, I think the employees are smart to organize. History has proved it's the only way labor gets a voice.

[AX10]

5. I agree they should have that right.

Toyota is still a corporation and cannot be allowed to do as they want to whenever they want to. Absolute power corrupts.

[susanna]

6. The majority of domestic manufacturers'

production is still in the United States, in case you are interested.

[gravity]

29. Toyota is taking jobs away from Japan

Free trade works both ways

[Trajan]

8. This thread isnt about hatred for corporations ...

It's about worker rights ... it is about the livelihoods of working men and women who want a better share of the 'American Dream' .....

There is nothing in the OP that implies 'hatred' of anything here other than unfair worker arrangements .....

If the marketplace is open, then it is open to workers associating with each other and expressing themselves on what workers get paid, and what benefits and work conditions will exist in the workplace ....

Comparing striving for worker rights to 'corporate hatred' is a stretch .... a big stretch ....

[AX10]

9. I am not attacking the OP.

I am being critical of the many Duer's who will be very quick to come to the defense of the companies that they think are somehow "innocent" and "well intentioned".

[liberal N proud]

10. I have a 2001 Chrysler with 105K on the odometer - It has only cost me $800 in repairs

The Toyota and Honda loyal owners claim you can't get quality in American made cars. I believe that my story counters that claim.
Past tires, brakes, oil and other normal maintenance It has been in the shop twice in the 6 years I have owned it. I am about to spend another 700 on it for timing belt and water pump but that I consider normal maintenance on a car.

[madrchsod]

13. get rid of it now !

at 100,000 or so miles the 2.7 engine and /or the transmission will break..i owned a 97 dodge that the trans went out at 100,000 miles then the replacement went out at 245,000 miles. the 3.3 pushrod engine was still had compression across all cylinders but could`t afford a new trans. one of the best cars i ever owned!

[liberal N proud]

14. And make a new car payment?

I am driving a car that is paid off. If I spend an average of $400/month for the next year, I am still ahead on this vehicle.
It is the 3.6L with the LH transmission, supposed to be more reliable than the previous Chrysler drive trains.
The only major repair I had was the Power Train Control Module, one of the two computers on board went out. I though for sure the transmission was gone.

[madrchsod]

15. ya new car payments..it in the rest of my lifetime

3.6 is a good engine..one thing about that computer -i doubt anything inside them were made in america! i`d by another intrepid if i had the money to afford another transmission. i think the first generation was one of the most practical cars made in the usa..

[liberal N proud]

16. I am sure the computer wasn't made in the US

It took two weeks to get the part once it was diagnosed.
The car though was designed and assembled in the US and Canada for the most part. This was my second LHS. Never had a better road car, that thing just loves to be out on the open highway.

[madrchsod]

17. my daughter works on the line that makes a vital engine part that

has never had a quality/failure in over a million parts...

[liberal N proud]

18. If one of those parts in on my auto - tell her good job

[havocmom]

23. My brother's 71 'Cuda needed tranny work and a new drive train

... after 330,000 miles. ;)

[guruoo]

19. The one you have to take the front wheel off to get to the battery? n/t

[Zandor]

34. The quality gap is pretty much gone

The American automakers are fighting perceptions from days gone by, not significant differences in quality.

[Connie_Corleone]

12. Well I've had 2 Ford cars and one Toyota.

My Toyota Corolla has been far better than the 2 Fords I had. I've never owned a GM, so I can't offer an opinion on them. I'll stick with the make that I'm familiar with and has given me the best results.

And I don't hate corporations. If I hated them, I wouldn't be working for one.

[Lorien]

26. My 12 year old Camry has never required a major repair

and, other than the window control button on the driver's side, no malfunctions either. My mother just gave away her 20 year old Camry station wagon to a family she knew and bought a new Kia. So far, she's really wishing she had kept the Camry.

My family had Fords when I was growing up and they were constantly in the shop. While Toyota isn't a "perfect" corporation by any means,I'll continue to purchase their products because I find them to be very dependable.

[jaybeat]

27. Don't be fooled by Toyota's "Green" PR

Sure, they've single-handedly made the gas-electric hybrid into something that people will pay a premium for--that's smart marketing, but it is not helping the planet very much. Hybrids get no where near the mileage in the real world that they get in the old EPA tests--the new ones (that are much more like real driving) show the greatest drop for, yup, hybrids. And the technology is very expensive to fix, and batteries have fixed life-spans that are shorter than engines, and more expensive to replace.

If Toyota wanted to, they could make their hybrids plug-ins, that would function as electric cars up to about 40 mph for the first 40 miles. After-market companies that do this conversion get >100 mpg. Toyota says, "American's don't want to plug in their cars, so we won't go there."

:wtf:

Then there's diesels. Toyota makes some of the most efficient, reliable diesel engines anywhere, and has for over 25 years. The Hilux compact pickup comes standard with a diesel engine and is available as a 4-door *everywhere in the world* except North America.

Instead of selling economical utilitarian vehicles that can get great mileage burning biodiesel, Toyota uses its marketing clout to fuel the Detroit myth that Americans want always bigger vehicles, especially trucks, and hate diesels. Meanwhile Mercedes is testing a plug-in hybrid diesel Sprinter...

Economical diesels for the rest of the world, bigger and fatter trucks and false-economy hybrids for the US.

Sounds to me the only thing Toyota's interested in moving forward is their own stock-price.

Oh, and when it comes to corporate bashing, I don't bash 'em all, only the ones that repeatedly put their shareholders' interests ahead of the public interest. Oh, wait, that's what their *supposed* to do? (At least ever since corrupt Repuke judges made corporations uber-persons in the 19th century.)

Nice. Real nice.

[glitch]

7. I first read this as "some Toyota employees urged unionization of the planet"

and I thought, cool.

[LostInAnomie]

11. They better be careful.

The Toyota plant in my home town just went through a huge round of lay offs because Toyota supposedly wasn't "making enough money". If they start pushing for a union, I wonder how long it will be until Toyota isn't "making enough money" in Georgetown.

[susanna]

20. I think that is what a lot of people

have been trying to say about Toyota's "Made in America" smokescreen. Yes, Toyota built plants here, but in the south. Why there? To avoid northern unions. If they find themselves with unionized plants in Dixie, I'd be willing to bet that they'll "shift" production elsewhere.

They all do it, but it seems there are a lot of Toyotaphiles on this board who don't think their beloved pet corporation is going to ever get their hands dirty that way. (They have a lot to learn, or so says me.)

[AX10]

28. They will do so.

You also have the right term too: "Toyotaphiles". I agree with your post.
:hi:

[susanna]

36. Thanks, AX10.

It's the most fitting term I've found. Not sure if I'm the first to use it, but I think it's spot on... :-)

[natrat]

25. i agree -pigs get fat ,hogs get slaughterd-lucky they got jobs

[Baron Harkonen]

21. My heart was with Chevrolet

I own 2 chevrolets: a 71 nova sport and a 93 silverado --redblooded American boy. My only Japanese car is a 02 civic. I didn't feel bad buying it because is was "assembled" in Maryville. My parents bought a 03 camry and its been in the shop multiple times.

I'm an IT prof. and I'm sick of offshoring and the influx of cheap labor. When my UNIX job was outsourced I tried to get blue collar work --no go. What this has to do with this thread is beyond me --I'm venting,

What Presidential candidate is worth a shit? I have always voted for the democrat. I'm looking at Mr Paul pretty hard.

[sellitman]

24. Paul isn't a choice if you are a Democrat

First of all he won't make it to the primaries so as a registered Dem you won't even have the choice to vote for him.

Second, besides the war the man is a Libertarian. Most are far right. Nothing close to being a Dem

Third, if you are against the War then why not support Dennis Kucinich? He is more anti war than anyone else running.

Just my .02.

[Baron Harkonen]

31. Paul isn't a choice if you are a Democrat

I understand the limitations of being a registered Dem. I like Kucinich. I also like Paul because of his stance on immigration. Other that that the first tier (or most) Rubs are a joke, Don't know at this point.

[pokercat999]

33. I consider myself a far left Libertarian. Most folks think

that may be an oxymoron (left Libertarian) but I don't find it hard to embrace the idea that the govt should stay out of OUR business but that "we the people" should exercise nearly total control over corporations.

[ingac70]

30. Yeah. I suggest you take a long hard look at Ron Paul.....

http://www.whitecivilrights.com/is-ron-paul-the-one_818.html

David Duke sees him as a viable candidate.

[Baron Harkonen]

32. Yeah. I suggest you take a long hard look at Ron Paul.....

thanks ingac70, I will. Racism didn't even occur to me. I disliked the swift-boat effort against Kerry with a passion.

[ileus]

22. Oh what a feelin'

[Zandor]

35. Duh

"The use of temporary workers, on-site injuries and concern about pay."

This is what happens without unions, folks.