UAW Targets Toyota Dealers to Prod Automaker to Unionize

New United Auto Workers president Bob King said Thursday, June 17, that the union will picket Toyota dealers nationally and run a banner campaign at the stores to pressure Toyota Motor Corp. to allow the UAW to organize its U.S. manufacturing operations.

King, who succeeded Ron Gettelfinger this week, called on UAW members to “adopt” a Toyota dealer in their respective areas to picket.

Interviewed by Automotive News behind the convention stage following his inaugural speech at this year’s UAW national convention, King said Toyota brought on direct action by closing its NUMMI plant in Fremont, California—one of its best-quality plants.

“We’re going to show these corporations that if they are unjust to our members that they are going to pay a price,” King said. “It’s a better business decision to work with us than treat people unfairly.”

After the comments, King led convention participants, more than 1,000 people, on a march through downtown Detroit to protest excesses on Wall Street.

In his speech, King said all UAW members must support organizing efforts at the U.S. plants of Toyota, Honda, Hyundai, Kia and Volkswagen.

He said the zenith in wages and benefits came decades ago when the UAW had representation at 70 to 80 percent of the U.S. plants in the automotive, aerospace and agricultural sectors.

King said UAW workers can best recapture lost concessions when they have gained bargaining leverage by organizing the Detroit 3’s competitors in the United States.

He said UAW workers cannot regain wages and benefits lost during the auto recession simply “by saying no to the bosses.”

King said the union could not wait for legislation, like a stalled card-check proposal, to organize at the automakers and parts suppliers. Card check would allow a shop to organize by simply getting a majority of workers to sign cards rather than go through a campaign that King said often subjects workers to threats from management.

King said a much higher percentage of suppliers must be organized so that unionized suppliers are not put at a cost disadvantage to nonunion shops. Organizing broadly would drive up wages and benefits to provide livable compensation to families, he said.

King said the union needs a multipronged growth strategy that combines direct action with legislative initiatives.

He said the UAW would also be involved in a march next spring in Detroit to commemorate Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s fight for civil rights and a march in Washington in October.  

Filed by David Barkholz of Automotive News, a sister publication of Workforce Management. To comment, e-mail editors@workforce.com

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