Thursday, February 4, 2010

Union-Busting Toyota Gets A Pass

When American car makers GM and Ford needed government money back in 2009, all we heard from the stenographers in the media was how the companies needed to bust their unions to become profitable again.

You see, according to the media stenographers, unionized employees are lazy and stupid and completely incapable of making good products. You can see and even more egregious example of the same here.

According to this theory of UNIONS SUCK, Toyota and other foreign car makers who employ mostly non-unionized employees make better cars simply because they do not have unionized employees.

Never mind that management at Ford and GM made terrible decisions with what cars to produce or failed to develop more environmentally-friendly vehicles that people want to buy when gas prices rise - the fault of all the woes of the American car makers was the union.

Except of course this was bullshit.

Let's note that Toyota has few union employees and often closes unionized plants only to reopen them as non-unionized plants all the time but can't seem to make a care worth a damn:

TOKYO — Toyota said Thursday that its hybrid Prius had problems with its anti-lock braking system and left open the possibility of a recall, the latest blow to the beleaguered company and one that affects the symbol of the automaker’s engineering prowess.

The Prius has been drawn into the mounting crisis for Toyota as Japanese officials have ordered the company to investigate complaints that the brakes on its 2010 Prius model sometimes failed to work immediately on bumpy or slippery roads. U.S. safety officials also said they had received dozens of similar reports.

...

Earlier versions of the Prius were involved in the recalls, in which buyers were advised to remove floor mats so they would not block accelerator pedals.

Meanwhile, questions have been raised recently about other Toyota models as well.

Wednesday, Representative Edolphus Towns, Democrat of New York and chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, asked the president of Toyota’s North American operations, Yoshimi Inaba, for more information about the Toyota Tacoma pickup truck.

Mr. Inaba is scheduled to testify next week before the committee, which will hold the first of two congressional hearings on the Toyota recalls.

The Tacoma, built in the United States, was involved in a recall for problems with floor mats but was not included in the second recall, over the sticking pedals. Even so, the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has received about 170 complaints about unintended acceleration on 2006-10 Tacoma trucks. Mr. Towns, in a letter, asked why the Tacoma had not been included in the second recall.

In none of the coverage of Toyota's woes - from the newspapers to the cable networks - have I heard anybody say "You know, I bet these problems are caused because the cars are made by non-unionized employees."

But you can bet if Ford or GM were experiencing the same problems with recalls, much of the blame would be leveled at the union.

Where are you today, Mr. Sowell?

2 comments:

  1. OK I've had it with all the bullcrap. Toyotas, Nissans, and I don't know what other Japanese cars are NOT necessarily even made in Japan any more. There is a huge assembly plant in TENNESSEE, which is NON UNION TO BEGIN WITH. The parts may be shipped there, but the cars are actually put together HERE IN THE US. Tennessee is a "right to work" state, so no unions need apply. Thanks for shedding further light on our union busting corporate overseers.

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  2. Now they're recalling Corolla's and Honda may have to do a recall as well.

    What bothers me is the hypocrisy of the press.

    If these were American cars, they'd be saying it shows how unionized companies are disasters.

    But when non-unionized companies have numerous recalls, not a word about the union issue.

    Hypocrites.

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