Originally Posted by wag123
Originally Posted by slacktide_bitog
While the UAW has many problems, they are not to blame for the quality of cars. In fact, Toyota had a UAW factory (in California!), where they produced cars that are just as good as their Japanese-made counterparts.
Not exactly.
Yes, Toyota's GM/Toyota NUMMI plant in Fremont California was UAW, but the quality was NOT "just as good" as their Japanese-made counterparts. In fact, when GM went bankrupt and the partnership was voided/dissolved, Toyota was offered the plant on it's own and they declined stating that the NUMMI plant was its worst in terms of quality, productivity, absenteeism and worker safety among ALL of Toyota's plants. They decided to shut it down. GM had shut production down at the plant several years earlier for the same reasons. In 2010 after production ceased at NUMMI, Toyota was hit with the largely bogus sudden unintended acceleration debacle, some insiders claim that the whole smear campaign was orchestrated by the UAW as punishment for closing the plant and it's members losing their jobs.
That plant is now occupied by Tesla and is currently a non-union plant, but the UAW has been trying to organise it's workers. There have been legal battles regarding Tesla's union busting practices, culminating in a recent court ruling that paves the way for Tesla workers to organise. California is NOT a right-to-work state so if a union vote wins, ALL of the workers will have to be dues-paying union members. Elon Musk is so vehemently anti-union that I wouldn't be a bit surprised if he moved production out of there if the plant unionized.
BTW, I am NOT an anti-union person (I have been a union member myself), but IMO the one big problem that unions have is the protection of bad/unproductive workers, making it very difficult for companies to get rid of them. I saw this with my own two eyes.
Actually, the NUMMI built Corollas and Pickups were found to be better than their Japanese counterparts. Toyota did a study and concluded the Japanese manufacturing system coupled with the American worker ingenuity was producing better cars. In fact, NUMMI was the only Toyota plant to achieve a zero defect audit. NUMMI's defect rate constantly ranked with the best in the world.
I toured NUMMI twice. I have owned 4 cars built in Fremont: 1965 Olds 4-4-2, 2 pickups and our Model 3.
Toyota's official close reason was "economic feasibility", which occured shortly after GM pulled out. I don't think NUMMI ever produced a profit, not sure...
Remember Toyota was a much smaller company at the time. NUMMI was theit 1st manufacturing venture in Morth America. Their NUMMI experience is cited as a reason they unseated GM as the largest car maker in the world.
I worked accross the freeway at Lam Research.