UAW Reaches Tentative Agreement on NUMMI Closing

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AFL-CIO News Blog

by James Parks,

The UAW today announced it has reached a tentative agreement on the planned closing of Toyota’s New United Motor Manufacturing Inc. (NUMMI) plant in Fremont, Calif. The agreement covers some 4,500 members of UAW Local 2244.

The tentative agreement will be presented to members of the local in the coming days. Details are being withheld pending a ratification vote by the membership. Voting dates have not yet been scheduled.

Established as a joint venture between General Motors Corp. (GM) and Toyota Motor Corp. in 1984, the NUMMI facility most recently built the Pontiac Vibe, Toyota Corolla and Tacoma pickup. As part of a structured bankruptcy, GM eliminated its Pontiac brand in 2009. Shortly after, Toyota announced its intention to close the NUMMI facility on April 1, 2010.

The plant’s closure also would put out of work another 1,500 Teamsters who transport the cars from the NUMMI plant to the dealerships. Additionally, as many as 50,000 workers at hundreds of businesses in California depend on NUMMI to stay afloat, from the suppliers that manufacture car parts to the restaurants where NUMMI workers go for lunch and even the shoe stores where the plant workers buy their specialized work boots.

Read more: http://blog.aflcio.org/2010/03/15/uaw-reaches-tentative-agreement-on-nummi-closing/

---

[ProgressiveProfessor]

1. When GM pulled out, it was clearly over

[divideandconquer]

2. Why not build the prius there, instead of using slave labor from Vietnam?

<http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3796/the_dark_side_... >

[demosincebirth]

3. It's their only union plant. Why do you think they're not keeping it open.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

4. Overheads were such that they alone justified it economically

Otherwise there would have been more political pressure applied

[blue_onyx]

9. Toyota could keep it open if they wanted

Only 21% of the vehicles produced there were for GM. In 2008, 342,012 vehicles were produced there, so only about 71,823 were GM vehicles.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/06/29/BUAB18FS5J.DTL

Toyota sells plenty of Prius' to make up for the lost volume:

"The Prius mid-size gas-electric hybrid posted year-end sales of 139,682 units. "

http://pressroom.toyota.com/pr/tms/toyota-reports-december-and-2009-150487.aspx?ncid=12036

[FarCenter]

5. It was the only assembly plant left in California

Not big enough auto industry in California to support parts suppliers, so parts had to be imported from Japan or the Midwest and South.

[divideandconquer]

They would have already trained workers @NUMMI vs unskilled Mississippi workers

Then there is failure of the Tundra and a way under capacity truck plant in texas that could use another product or five

[divideandconquer]

6. Gee since the Pruis has all japanese parts, it sure would be a logical candidate

[Codeine]

7. Union-busting assholes. nt

[Kolesar]

8. Agree to what? Cultivate potatoes in the yard so they can have food this summer?

eom