Just read where a Big 3 guy was whining about Toyota's non-union labor being an unfair advantage ?

What a moron, doesn't he realize that closing plants and sending American jobs to Mexico etc. CREATED Toyota's labor pool? Buy American, buy Toyota!

Philip McCrevice...smart?...their getting their butts kicked

You call him a moron then agree with him that it is finacially smarter to hire non-union.

How do the poor workers at Toyota make it, not being in a union and all? Those poor, forced labor people!

Union speak is all about playing poker... what you gonna show and what you gonna get is all about what you think you have.

Where did you read this at? As of now all of the big 3 have investments and/or wholly own a foreign car company which means that they too are enjoying some of the fruit of non union labor. GM has SAAB, FORD has VOVLO and GM has LANDROVER.

I hope this gives folks some insight

Apparently, Toyota's employees have realized that unionizing is not in their best interest.

It's impossible to really tie any auto producer to a single country anymore.

Just about every single vehicle on the market is owned, engineered, has parts from, and is assembled in a dozen different countries.

It is cheaper for Toyota to assemble their vehicles here and keep from paying import tax on completed cars, that is the only reason they have plants here.

You might feel better about supporting American workers when you buy your Toyota, but the majority of the profit goes elsewhere.

The UAW thinks it's 1959, where American companies rule the roost and can pass on the generous benefits to their customers. What the hell is an American car, anyway? A Toyota built in Kentucky? A Ford built in Mexico? A Honda built in Ohio? A Chrysler built in Canada?

Given the choice, I would bet most Toyota workers would keep their current gig instead of signing up with the Luddites at the UAW, whose leadership no doubt eats steak off the dues of the members.

Die, UAW, die!!!

Way back when...
The American auto makes went to the UAW and said:

We'll pay you whatever you ask, just name it and we'll pass it on to the customer, you just have to come to work.
Now's the time because the Japanese are coming and you run the risk of losing the jobs your not showing up to do.

The UAW said no: We want to get paid for time not worked. More vacations, higher wage for training, more holidays including may day and sinco de mayo, shorter hours and more sick leave. They also wanted production wages which meant continued building of vehicles that were not selling.

The Automakers said OK and signed. They instantly started building component plants in Mexico, Brazil, Venezuela et al. They opened and expanded existing plants in Canada and merged with and bought foreign companies that already had reasonable collective bargaining agreements in place.

Michael Moore and the UAW were shocked at the eventual plant closings and lay-offs.

The void was filled with new Japanese business models in the heartland and Mercedes and BMW opened plants in New Jersey and California respectively.

If the UAW doesn't watch out they will lose more.
Why is anyone shocked when the job you didn't show up for leaves town?

Why do some people find it so repugnant when they are told that if they want to get paid they acutally have to show up for work?

Which came first, rediculous UAW demands, or Big3 outsourcing?

Unions can be great or they can go too far.

Corporations are not an unlimited source of wealth, and consumers will not tolerate unlimited cost increases. If there was no international trade, it would be possible to keep the prices rising, but at what cost? Consumers will buy fewer cars, there would be no where near the number of electronics we have. The goods & services we sell abroad allows us to import the things that make our standard of living so high.

Manufacturing cannot be a top tier profession in a 21st century nation that demands top economic growth and our high standard of living.