I dont think Toyota has been on a 20-year trend. Nissan either. Its a very recent trend. Heck, even Mercedes came to Alabama of all places.

 

Humm...Honda and Nissan both built thier first plants in the early 80's and I'm fairly sure that Toyota was not more than a couple of years behind Honda and Nissan in building here...given that this is 2007 that seems like more than a 20 year trend to me.

As far as the tariffs go, they didn't build here because they might change, theu built because they did change; Detroit was seeking protection from Washington (sound familar) and because of their protectionism; it became much less expensive to built here rather than import...trying to artificially protect a market from competition almost always winds up bitting you in the ***.

 

I hope it bites the Asian markets in the *** soon then..

 

I was a salary Engineer for 11 years - One of the Detroit 3.
The UAW is made of basically two types.
Line operators and "skilled trades."
98% of skilled trades people are a problem. They pull down $85 to $150K (with OT). Far more than salary Engineer. They do not know much about computer driven automation, problem T_shooting, and need endless spoon feeding and supervision all the time!
Management is much like the Union. UAW and Mgt (not car/automation people -opinion) do not like each other, but, are identical. Mgt always has abused the capable Engineer to insulate themselves from UAW direct contact. Untill you have worked between them, you cannot know the furstration and inefficiency, endless salary floor hours, lack of salary OT pay, and Mgt's anti-human salary policies.
The Salary Engineer... "A position between Rock and Hard place."

Still, the US government should help with trades inequalities. But...
Toyota still = a Japanese Company.
Toyota still = a Japanese Company.
BMW still = a German Company.
(97SS - 383 D1)

 

fwiw I'm just speculating some possible reasons.. not saying im right.

 

I've been in the UAW for over 12 years, I've seen waste on both sides, management and represented employees...but NOT by the majority of either.

There's always going to be some trying harder to get out of work, than just doing their job. Despite being a minority few "slackers" in the union, they seem to give the union a bad name for the fact that they were protected by the union...and they always get more Press.
But I have seen many of them "fired", yes they will fire them, for various unacceptable behavior, only to get their job back by the Union negociating away legitimate grievances; ie; payable contract violations by management. Again, management AGREED to let them back to work to keep from paying grievances provided for in the contract. And believe me, that pisses off more hard working UAW members than anyone else.

I've also seen management jump onto lineworkers to stop talking and get back to work(usually on their way to the bathroom), then stand in the gangways talking about Football for 30minutes to another supervisor(s).

Line-workers earn their money, if you've worked with many you know...they must be at their station, prepared to start, ready or not when the buzzer sounds...and ready or not, product keeps coming, no matter if you feel like catching your breath, or getting a cup of coffee or not. Even if you have to take a bathroom break, you must wait until a replacer can get to you...sometimes 30 minutes or more.
Almost every other area of work has more freedom and idle time than a lineworker, one reason for a higher salary.

And before this I worked in a Japanese manufacturing plant in the Engineering department, with 4 engineeers from Ohio State...as far as computing formulas or making bell graphs etc they were great...but out on the production floor, they were lost...as one of the Tech support, I had to show them everything, with all that learning they seemed to have forgotten common sense.
And even at my UAW plant I see engineers implementing ideas that are just rediculous and anyone with common sense would know it won't work, but it takes them days of testing they finally come to that conclusion...waste there too.
I guess it just depends on who you wish to identify with and who you wish to bash...but until everyone starts working together, and it is possible, things aren't likely to change anytime soon.

 

RiteON with "cooperation". I've spent many hours fixing and changing "Engineer's" deams on the floor to work. Had many Supervisor's (UAW direct salary supervisors - promotions due to low seniority - a Mgt idea) question me (BSME), and, they were wrong. When will the big3 Union and Mgt learn to get along? My view... It's a mess. Toyota and Honda are the competition, so, beat them! I'm not going back to that place. I let my ride do the talkin. (97SS 383 - D1)

 

Thank you for pointing out exactly what I was thinking! The Clinton (non)administration started NAFTA...NOT the Bush administration.

Frank
CPT