As he takes over from Ron Gettelfinger (l), new UAW head King turns up the heat on Toyota.
Bob King, the newly-elected president of the United Auto Workers, is vowing to take on Toyota on multiple fronts and accused the Japanese auto giant of deliberately abandoning unionized workers in California.
One of the top priorities for the UAW is organizing the rest of the growing Toyota manufacturing network in the U.S. Until now, the only facility represented by the union was the NUMMI plant, near San Francisco, which Toyota decided to close after the break-up of its joint venture with General Motors.
“We’re not going to wait” for proposed legislation that could impact organizing efforts, said King, who was chosen by UAW leaders during their national convention, this week. In a fiery speech in which he vowed to return the union to its roots, the UAW President declared, “We’re going to whatever is necessary to ensure that Toyota abandons its anti-union efforts.”
King invoked the legendary Walter Reuther, who led the union for 24 year until his sudden death in 1970, telling UAW leaders, “We’re all in this together. We will fight for reform. But let us remember the UAW of the 1930s and 1940s didn’t wait on government legislation. The strike that changed the world, the Flint sit-down strike, was illegal,” said King, referring to the long confrontation with General Motors that effectively created the modern UAW.
The union president noted that he’s already lined up the support of Teamster President James Hoffa in the bid to organize Toyota. (Click Here for Hoffa Joins UAW’s King at Good Jobs Now Rally.) And the UAW plans to reach out to every church and community group for the anti-Toyota campaign.
“The only reason they closed that plant (in Fremont, California) was because it was a UAW plant. We’re going to pound on Toyota until they recognize the first amendment right to come into the UAW, The first battleground is Fremont. When any employer takes an anti-union stances we’re going to show them that’s a bad business case because they’re going to make less than they did if they cooperated with the UAW.”
King said one of his goals will be to put banners saying “Toyota puts profits before people,” outside of every Toyota dealership in the U.S.
The UAW’s ire has been further provoked by Toyota’s decision to complete a partially-built plant in union-resistant Mississippi rather than keep open the Fremont facility. The California plant had been producing models like the Corolla, which will now go to the new line – but at lower wages and benefits, King charged.
The NUMMI plant will reopen, but under a new owner. With the help of a proposed $50 million investment from Toyota, the California electric vehicle maker Tesla Motors plans to buy the factory and use it to produce the Model S battery sedan. King scoffed at that proposal, as Tesla’s proposed production plans – 20,000 vehicles a year – is not enough, he said, to keep NUMMI open.
“Sometimes people call us in labor idealists. I want to be known as an idealist. I want to be known as a dreamer. I want to be known as a visionary, We are not going to let those in power change our dreams,” King said,
King also said organizing Toyota, Honda, Nissan, Hyundai and Kia is the best way for the union to win back the concessions it has made in recent years. When an industry is completely organized, employers can’t divide workers by pitting one employers against another, he said.
“If you are serious about winning back the sacrifices they have made, and I know you are, winning the right to organize is number one on our list of priorities,” King said.
The Association of International Auto Dealers, an old foe of the union, quickly challenged King over his Toyota strategy.
“Attacking small businesses won’t help Mr. King build back UAW membership,” said AIADA President Cody Lusk. “If he wants to pressure the 28,000 workers at Toyota’s U.S. manufacturing plants to unionize, he should consider some other method than hindering business at a randomly chosen Toyota dealership. A picket line will only hurt the dealership, its employees, and the community it serves. An assault on America’s auto retail industry will only serve to highlight the disconnect between the UAW and reality.”
As he wrapped up the UAW convention, King said the union also was putting together a strategy for the 2010 elections. “We all have disagreement with President Barack Obama. We have forgotten sometimes to put that in context and talk about all the good things he’s done,” King said.
King also said Republican party is getting away with blaming President Barack Obama and the Democrats for an economic crisis that was created by George Bush.
“The truth is when George Bush entered the White House, he was handed a $127 billion surplus by Bill Clinton,” said King, stressing that, “When Obama took office he was handed a trillion-dollar deficit.”
While the rhetoric of the UAW convention’s closing session may bring to mind the days of labor past, this is a very different union from 1979, when membership peaked at 1.5 million. The rank-and-file now stands at barely 20% of that number and the UAW’s political clout has slipped substantially.