UAW Ramps Up To Assimilate Toyota Kentucky Plant

Employees at the Toyota plant in Georgetown, Ky., will have another chance to air their concerns about working conditions at a June 10 hearing organized by the Kentucky chapter of Jobs With Justice.

The nonprofit group plans to ask elected officials, community leaders and Toyota managers to attend a meeting of its Workers' Rights Board. The panel will review concerns from workers, then issue a written report to the automaker with recommendations for improving employee relations.

Attica Scott, the Louisville-based coordinator of Jobs With Justice, said the company won't be bound to follow the recommendations, but that doesn't mean it won't pay attention.

"We've had quite a bit of success changing how these operations are run," she said of companies that have been reviewed in previous hearings. The approximately 7,000 employees at the Toyota plant do not belong to a union. At a meeting Saturday organized by the United Auto Workers, some of the plant's employees shared concerns about on-the-job injuries, benefit cuts and the use of temporary workers.


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chewy - 4/4/2007 3:45:25 PM

0 Boost

I think I have said it many times, UAW is really the only thing that can slow down Toyota. (better product from other companies doesn't work as CR/common buyer wants the simplest/blandest/toyotaist car) With the UAW involved look for same problems as with the Big3. Of course little info on how Toyota workers are treated vs. UAW workers.

Agent009 - 4/4/2007 4:15:27 PM

+4 Boost

When Toyota first opened that plant it had to resort to pictures and simpler terminology in training due to the illiteracy in the Kentucky workforce. Now that they are established, the rank and file is demanding white collar wages for blue collar work.

Yes the work is very hard, but this was a job they freely chose. In other industries you simply move on to another company if you aren't happy, not plant roots and demand more.

If Toyota was truly that unfair we would have countless lawsuit to that affect. Instead the invested heavily into the economy and the education system only to be greeted with this.

A pretty sad situation and a slap in the face for a good company.

r_driver04 - 4/6/2007 9:50:01 AM

+1 Boost

I'm not at all for the UAW. The union is a joke for the most part. It's because of them that the "Losing Ground 3" are where they are now. It's a bad deal. The union use to be good.

izfuney - 4/4/2007 4:30:54 PM

+4 Boost

I pretty much agree with Agent009. UAW is going to bend the truth and try as hard as it can to get the kentucky plant as a UAW member. Frankly, Toyota pays the highest among all the car manufacturers ( bvut it does not pay health benefits to the degree like FORD/GM/Chrysler) and is famous for not retrenching staff. On the other hand, employees are expected to keep learning on the job as they are moved around the production system . think of it as the antithesis of UAW whose calling card is to keep manufacturing circa 1950.
As for the Kentucky workers, there will always be some who think they are entitled to a lot of pay just so they work for Toyota. Well we shall see how it pans out. Toyota is notorious for having a flat heirachy in terms of pay .. i.e. its CEO / VP's dont get millions as bonus.

kart1 - 4/4/2007 5:03:24 PM

+3 Boost

Great here is the downfall of Toyota Manufacturing in the US. Isn't it the kentucky plant workers who make the most money in the industry??? Just because Toyota is profitable doesn't mean that they should get more money, hell sooner than later they will become a loosing company if that should start to happen. Will they want less money if Toyota looses money, yeah that has been proven with the Big 3.

kart1 - 4/4/2007 5:06:43 PM

+4 Boost

Oh btw, if you leak company secrets in other industries you will be fired.

EL34 - 4/4/2007 6:29:59 PM

+6 Boost

I will never buy a Toyota if they go Union.

I hate Unions.

r_driver04 - 4/6/2007 9:51:20 AM

+1 Boost

I don't think they will go Union. Surely they've seen how fast it can sink your ship.

Need4Speed - 4/4/2007 10:09:26 PM

+2 Boost

Resistance is futile!

woood - 4/4/2007 10:32:13 PM

+2 Boost

Only one solution here. If Toyota gets fed up with UAW, close these plants and lets see who suffers more. Toyota can definitely afford to move everything south of the border where labor is much cheaper and workers dont whine or keep wanting more.

Agent009 - 4/5/2007 11:30:55 AM

+2 Boost

That IS what will happen. The jobs will go to Mexico.

r_driver04 - 4/6/2007 9:54:22 AM

+1 Boost

Another American loss. And I wouldn't blame Toyota at all. The union's created a sense that "we" should make all the profit and not pay for benefits, etc. That's why GM,Ford,Chrysler prices are so artificially high, to cover stupid cost.

Murcielago_LP640 - 4/5/2007 4:36:33 AM

+1 Boost

pot-ay-to, pot-ah-to....

Agent009 - 4/5/2007 11:47:34 AM

+1 Boost

You are correct!

I went back and discovered that it was the ALABAMA workforce that needed the pictograms to understand what was going on.

http://www.cbc.ca/cp/business/050630/b0630102.html

My sincere apologies to the Kentucky workforce. I should have looked before I made the comment.

siulaba - 4/5/2007 2:18:36 AM

+2 Boost

if they go union, just shut the plant and move. i think walmart did the same where they just moved to the town next door to avoid the unions.

sold2early - 4/5/2007 10:28:32 AM

0 Boost

I am confident that Toyota will be able to keep those money-sucking parasites at bay. This move by the UAW is out of desperation as their membership continues to plummet.

There are a small number of disgruntled employees at Toyota's KY plant(As there are in every company), but the majority are happy. After all, they received bonuses in the range of $7K-10K last year, which put their total pay above that of the union workers.

Most of Toyota's U.S. workers are smart enough to realize that the UAW is the main reason why the Big 3 are in a death spiral.