Teamsters Gearing Up To Protest In D.C. Calling Toyota "Danger to America"

Those blasted unions...

After strangling the life out of the companies who employ them, they predicably take the opportunity to pile on to whoever they can, if it further advances their agenda.

Toyota didn't receive the (what an abomination) cash for clunkers funds. Ultimately, it was consumers who did.

"I didn't hear any complaints when GM pulled out of NUMMI"

You must have dozed off. I recall protests.

Hasn't NUMMI been scheduled for closure for a while now?

NUMMI wouldn't have closed if GM hadn't pulled out of there.

Hmmmm. So the Teamsters have such a spotless past they can rail on Toyota. The pot calling the kettle black IMO.

Jimmy Hoffa would be rolling in his grave in the Meadowlands...

brn,

So you recall mass union protests in DC at the Capitol slamming GM for pulling out of NUMMI?

"I didn't hear any complaints when GM pulled out of NUMMI, and I live in the same city (Fremont, CA). Seems a bit unfair for Toyota to be burdened with all the bad press for pulling out instead of just half."

Toyota made the overwhelming majority of the vehicles there. The Vibe was a relatively modest success in terms of sales. I've never gotten an explanation as to why Toyota couldnt keep the plant open without the Vibe. This is likely why the union is mad at Toyota. In additon, one would think the world's largest automaker could have shifted production of one of its other successful models like Prius to the plant instead of building a brand new one in mississippi. Besides, its Toyota, not GM who has made pledges not to close plants in the past. GM has been closing plants for decades and their marketshare shrank- nothing new there.

flicmod,

Your specific example? No. Protests in CA? Yes.

Drink your own koolaid, 1487. You've been saying for years how the imports have been locating new plants in traditionally non-unionized southern states for a reason. And now you're asking why Toyota couldn't move production of the Prius from their proposed MS location to the unionized CA? Good logic there.

Toyota obviously decided that it wasn't economical enough to keep NUMMI running while only producing Toyota products. The Vibe made up a HUGE percentage of the production at NUMMI. And now we're faulting Toyota for being the one that destroyed jobs and being economically-minded even though it'd still be producing vehicles if GM hadn't decided to pull out of the partnership. I don't fault either company, for the record. Both are doing what it takes to keep the company afloat without sacrificing more workers than necessary. But to the ignoramuses that can't see the economics behind closing the plant, you're obviously promoting the same bad business models that have gotten so many companies in trouble for the past umpteen years.

My point, brn, is that the Teamsters seemingly don't see the need to raise a metaphorical million man march on DC when GM pulls out of the partnership, but decides to do so when Toyota does. Biased much? It's about the intensity of the protests, not about the protesting in general.

The Teamsters and Unions in general make me puke. The UAW is one of the biggest reasons for the shape of the US auto industry. The corruption and selfishness of them is staggering. They hate the fact that they have not been able to unionize any of the new plants in the country in years and years.....so they are striking out at the easiest target, Toyota. What a bunch of miserable pukes.

"Drink your own koolaid, 1487. You've been saying for years how the imports have been locating new plants in traditionally non-unionized southern states for a reason. And now you're asking why Toyota couldn't move production of the Prius from their proposed MS location to the unionized CA? Good logic there."

I've never said much about where import plants or located nor do I really care. NUMMI was efficient as far as I know and they had a unique agreement that kept peace to my knowledge. Toyota pays its non union workers as much as UAW workers so there is no savings. I understand Toyota worship is commonplace on this site (and in American in general) but try and use common sense here. Toyota closed this plant because they have too much capacity and GM exiting the plant gave them cover to FINALLY close an underused US plant. The fact that they made this decision quickly tells you that they didn't need hte capacity of this plant. When Toyota made 70% or more of the vehicles in the plant it makes no sense to say they couldn't operate it without the Vibe. I believe corolla production was shifted out of this plant before GM even went bankrupt. Union or no union it makes little sense to spend $500M to build a brand new plant instead of using one in the state that is your biggest market for Pruis' UNLESS you know you have too much capacity for the long term and really have no plans of actually launching that Missippi plant.

BS, 1487. You can recite sales figures from two years ago for a trim level on a random GM car, but you don't remember EVER having conversations on Karl's blog about import manufacturers locating new plants in non-unionized locations? I don't believe you.

Too much capacity or not, my point still stands. Toyota is closing NUMMI because it's not economically feasible anymore. Stop defending the unions on this while still lambasting Toyota for closing the plant. That's called doublespeak.

Also, hold your breath on the accusations of me being a "Toyota Worshiper". I'm no such thing, and I'd challenge you to prove it.

If anything is a "Danger to America" it's the Union and all of it's greedy BS!

They've been giving GM and especially Chrysler hell about carhaulers and the way they're treating cars being hauled, so I'd not say this is piling on per se.

"BS, 1487. You can recite sales figures from two years ago for a trim level on a random GM car, but you don't remember EVER having conversations on Karl's blog about import manufacturers locating new plants in non-unionized locations? I don't believe you."

You said I have been talking about this for "years". Now THAT is BS. I may have mentioned the OBVIOUS fact that Toyota prefers to locate plants in non union states but you act as if I have been continuously talking about it. Even if I was, that has nothing to do with ANYTHING being discussed here. The point is Toyota needed to close a plant to save money and GM gave them cover to do so. Its that simple.

"Stop defending the unions on this while still lambasting Toyota for closing the plant. That's called doublespeak."

That's called a nonsensical argument. What exactly are you talking about? I am not defending unions- I am saying that the UAW wasn't the primary reason Toyota closed the plant. No "defense" was involved in my statements. There are probably a few factories Toyota COULD have closed but this opportunity presented itself so they jumped on it and blamed GM. As I said, your argument about costs doesn't hold water because Toyota is going to spend hundreds of millions on a new Prius factory. If Toyota needed capacity it would make sense to shift a new vehicle to an existing, efficient plant as opposed to building a new one. They don't need the capacity because they overbuilt and the economy crashed. So unless you have some proof that Toyota had a bad relationship with the UAW workers your assertions are bogus.