Comments on: Regular Folks Against Union at KY Toyota Plant

By: WakeUp

WakeUp — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 14:31:22 +0000

Don – what is wrong with letting Toyota workers vote in a secret ballot election? Why does the UAW want to deny the workers this right? FYI – Toyota has the best job security in the world. They have not laid off anyone in 50 years. How many UAW workers have lost their jobs over the last few years?
Bernie – so what if Toyota started charging their employees $50 a month for a family health plan. They make $70,000 to $100,000 per year. Look at what other people pay for health insurance. Out-of-control health care costs are not Toyotas fault. Perhaps Toyota wants to keep costs under control so that they do not end up like GM, Ford & Chrysler. Don mentions cars coming from China – maybe Toyota wants to make sure that it can compete with Chinese imports. As for Toyotas Japanese workers’ bonus – some of Toyotas Japan factories are busy building cars for the US & other markets. Just because Japanese sales are down does not mean that the Japanese workers are not contributing anything. Also the cost of living in Japan is double the US and the Japanese autoworkers only make about $15 to $18 per hour versus $25-$27 at Toyota’s US plants. If you like the Japanese pay scale better then move to Japan.

By: Wayne

Wayne — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 14:21:34 +0000

Respect? Go get a job at one of them “natural winner” places. See how you like being a worker there instead of just being a driver of their cars.

By: Citizen from America

Citizen from America — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 23:39:39 +0000

I don’t get it. Why in our country, anything which is actually a real winner is always threatened. Toyota or for that matter even Mitsubishi or Honda are one of the most respected corporations all over the 7 continents. They already have the highest salary structure in the industry. Still some people want to play the same dirty game over and over again. GM and Ford management want to make money by selling crap while Toyota (In this case) is based only on Truth and Engineering. All the brick Battering should end if we want any good company to operate from our land.

By: Bernie

Bernie — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 15:59:51 +0000

Them Japanese companies sales in Japan are down, way down. But, their employees over in Japan got record bonuses last year. Sales in the US were way up, profits were way up, and they cut their US employees health benefits. You know what? They are making tons of money off of AMERICAN workers backs and selling cars to AMERICAN buyers, but all the money is going to the Japanese workers while the US workers are still considered “at will” and can be fired b/c their boss doesn’t like their haircut. Something aint right. That’s why workers in Kentucky are trying to form themselves a union, some respect, some dignity, and a say in how things are run at their plant- they’re the ones doing the work, they know what’s right.

By: Bernard

Bernard — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 15:55:39 +0000

I disagree. When workers form unions they are standing together to have a say in decisions about their futures. Unfortunately people have been led to believe that unions are the reason companies like Ford and GM aren’t doing well…I think the truth is they arent building cars people are wanting to drive but still they want to make big bucks. So, they blame the union. A lot of those workers in kentucky want a union is because they want job security- I know what its like to be an at-will employee. Then you think about how much money Toyota is making (billions and billions) and they want to treat the Americans who are building those cars like they don’t mean nothing. That just aint right. Let them folks decide if they wanna form a union, those companies are ripping American workers off.

By: Former Lurker

Former Lurker — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 12:19:05 +0000

Unions had their time. It’s now time for them to go away. They no longer serve any productive purpose.

By: Wonder95

Wonder95 — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 02:57:13 +0000

Don, unions do nothing but skew the market and cost other people jobs. They are draining our economy and killing large employers (just ask companies like Ford and GM what union costs are doing to them). It’s unions that keep our companies from being able to be lean and efficient. It would be much easier to compete if we didn’t have the unions. They care nothing about the quality of work they do – just how much they get for themselves. We all got to see it with the longshoremen a few years ago here on the west coast. And this is all on top of their known corruption. Why do you think they have such low membership numbers now? It’s because people know how worthless and damaging to our economy they are.

Personally, I think unions should be banished. We have labor laws that we didn’t have when they first started up in the early 1900s. They are unnecessary and wasteful.

By: Don

Don — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 00:04:28 +0000

No unions= in future means going back to working conditions of old What has hapened will happen. Hope you all enjoy job insecurity, low pay, and poor working conditios. No pensions. Hope the cheap chinese cars get here quick for you non union folks thats all you ll be able to afford.

By: Ryan

Ryan — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 23:48:03 +0000

Eh, I’m not crazy about the UAW or any union for that matter….with that being said, I think the whole southern anti-union mentality harkens back to the fact that the south was ruined by the northern states in the civil war. Deep down, it all comes back to that no matter how you try to pin it.