Toyota Cool To UAW Organizing Efforts
Toyota indicating that it's not going to make it any easier for the UAW to organize its American plants.
Toyota was the primary target mentioned by the union in its June convention. And, earlier this week at the Management Briefing Seminars in Traverse City, UAW President Bob King said the union was going to come up with several "Principals for democratic elections" that it will ask targeted companies to sign off on.
The union hasn't finalized those rules yet. Steve St. Angelo, Toyota's s executive vice president, Toyota Motor Engineering and Manufacturing, said in Traverse City that he's not been contacted by the union. But St. Angelo was cool to the UAW's goals of opening the plants to union organizers.
"I really doubt it, because we have a no solicitation rule in our plant," said St. Angelo. "I have not met with the UAW. I have no idea what they're thinking about. But, our team members like it the way it is. Quite frankly, I like it, too."
Without mentioning Toyota specifically, the UAW's Bob King said that as soon as the union launches an organizing drive, the targeted company often puts up a fight.
"You'll see workers are intimidated, threatened their plant is threatened with being closed. There is not a democratic option today for workers to decide whether they want a union or not."
This comes as union backed laws that would make organizing easier have stalled in congress. King says he's not trying to pick fights with companies.
"We are advocating for partnerships," he said. "If we have to fight, we're gonna fight, but that isn't our preferred way of going."
The UAW hasn't let up in its efforts against Toyota. The union's been targeting dealerships in California, where Toyota this year closed the New United Motors Manufacturing Initiative—called NUMMI-- a plant that had been a Toyota-GM joint venture, that General Motors abandoned in bankruptcy.
St. Angelo says he thinks those UAW tactics have been counter-productive, and only served to make Toyota workers angry with the union.
"I still don't understand why they're picketing out dealerships," he said. "Our dealerships have nothing to do with our workers. Our workers make the ultimate decision if they want to unionize or not. For 25 years, they voted no."
St. Angelo says Toyota created a lot of goodwill with its workers by not laying off any of them during the recent recession. He told WWJ AutoBeat Reporter Jeff Gilbert that the jobs lost due to the closing of the NUMMI plant were not Toyota's fault.
"NUMMI is its own company. General Motors walked away from NUMMI, making it impossible to continue by yourself."
St. Angelo says Toyota did far more for the California workers than General Motors did.
"We provided them seven months of work so they could stabilize their lives." he said. "We gave them severance pay. It cost us almost 250 million dollars that we didn't have to do. We did not have to do that. We gave that 250 million dollars of severance pay during the biggest recession of our lifetime."
Hear Toyota's Steve St. Angelo talk with reporters about the UAW and about Toyota's quality efforts.
