I thought that not having the big bad UAW was supposed to prevent this from happening .

I will tell you this. Back in the early fall the Princeton, IN plant shut down production for 6 weeks. The told the employees they had two choices. They could either take off without pay or if they wanted to come to work they would find something for them to do whether it was sweep the floor or take out the trash or whatever. They could have easily laid everyone off for six weeks which is probably what would have happen as they been UAW.

UAW is a joke, Toyota wouldn't have half of the benefits or pay that they have now if the UAW was involved.

 

Wrong. Both of my parents retired from the auto industry. The Toyota people make good money but I know my parents made more than the Toyota people.

Wrong. Both of my parents retired from the auto industry. The Toyota people make good money but I know my parents made more than the Toyota people.

 

So who makes more money, GM and Ford workers or Toyota? Union or non-union? Am curious. To be honest, people making 30-40 dollars an hour on an assembly line is part of the reason the auto industry is in the shape it is in, along with gas,SUV's and fat cat white collar workers

So who makes more money, GM and Ford workers or Toyota? Union or non-union? Am curious. To be honest, people making 30-40 dollars an hour on an assembly line is part of the reason the auto industry is in the shape it is in, along with gas,SUV's and fat cat white collar workers

 

Actually the biggest reason the US auto industry is in the shape it is in iis because of the weight of their pensions. Right now GM pays more people not to work than they do to work. It will be roughly mid 2011 before that number shifts. The pension system has been redone in the last 10-15 years just like everyone elses, but it has to run it's course. They are not going to simply dump on employees who worked for them for 30 years. They're going to ride it out. The days of pensions is almost over. We're now the age of the 401K.

The company I work for has union and non- union. I am non-union and make more money. I was the last one to be hired to get the pension. You have to have electricity.

Unlike the Big 3, Toyota has always prepared for this type of downturn in the Economy. I am not sure of the exact numbers but so what if the Big 3 make a few more bucks on the hour than Toyota employees their jobs remain secure. Toyota's Production system has always revolved around lean manufacturing and I can see jobs being cut or responsibilites combined but I feel no employees will be cut. I could be wrong as I do not know the situation in UK and other facilites. IMO,Toyota in Georgetown will not cut any of its full time team members. Although most if not all of the variable work force has been let go. As much as I truly hate it for the temporary workers that lost their jobs one of the reasons they were put into place was to protect the long term job security of full time team members.

I have a real close friend that works at the Georgetown plant as a personal trainer for the employees of their gym, hopefully it will not effect Ky, but his job doesn't bode well for keeping a job if it does come to Ky.