UAW Wants Their Piece Of Tesla

Bertel Schmitt
by Bertel Schmitt

No, the UAW doesn’t want to invest into Tesla like Daimler, or, a few days ago, Toyota did. The UAW wants Tesla to go union, says Reuters. “Our union’s hope is that this venture will give first hiring preference to former NUMMI employees who are already trained and highly skilled,” UAW boss Gettelfinger said. Well, one can always hope.

The odds aren’t high. When partly union-owned GM backed out of NUMMI and left Toyota holding the bag, the union kept quiet. When Toyota closed NUMMI, the unions cried foul. In the end, Toyota had to spend $250m to pay off NUMMI workers. GM paid nothing. Talk about a union-backed, government-led witch hunt against Toyota as the main driver of the SUA debate has received wide traction. Just a few days ago, Marsha Blackburn (R – TN) complained about congressional “attempts to vilify a corporation” that has a non-union factory in her state. And now the UAW thinks all is forgotten, and they want back in?

If Gettelfinger hopes for union jobs at Tesla, then he needs a lot of patience. Tesla production at the former NUMMI plant won’t begin before 2012. Speaking of Tennessee, “the 2012 timeline is not without skeptics however, many believe that a year and a half is too short a time to re-condition the NUMMI auto plant,” says the Tennessean. The paper also disclosed that the $50m investment into Tesla will yield Toyota a tax abatement from the state of California, worth about $20 million dollars. That deal is getting better by the minute.

Speaking of union jobs, Chrysler will hire about 1,100 new workers for their Detroit plant that has been retooled for the new Grand Cherokee, says Reuters. The Grand Cherokee is the only new vehicle Chrysler will launch between now and the fourth quarter.

Partly union-owned Chrysler is getting a deal from the UAW. New workers will be hired starting at the $14-per-hour wage rates that partly union owned U.S. automakers negotiated in order to slash labor costs. What are the odds that Tesla would have to pay the full monte?

Bertel Schmitt
Bertel Schmitt

Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.

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  • Mother Muckraker Mother Muckraker on May 25, 2010

    None of what you're saying about union workers is right. As far as NUMMI is concerned, their UAW workforce achieved the highest quality of all Toyota plants. That proves all the stereotypes wrong Lets go back to why NUMMI was closed. Toyota had no valid reason to close NUMMI. They had and still have 10s of billions in cash. Each plant only cost $1.3 billion (according to their site). Corollas and Tacomas were selling well and people were working overtime even after GM pulled out. (The Pontiac Vibe/Toyota Matrix accounted for 10-15% of total production). NUMMI was also turning a healthy profit for the last 25 years. The real reason NUMMI closed was because Toyota wanted to lower wages and they could not do it with their only UAW plant operating. With NUMMI, Toyota has to peg their wages at their other plants to NUMMIs to keep out the union. With NUMMI gone, Toyota no longer has to peg their wages to NUMMI and they will be free to lower wages. GM learned a little about lean manufacturing from Toyota and Toyota learned about union busting the good ol GM way...... plant closings as a way of turning a higher profit. GM did back in the 80s (Moore's Roger & Me) and history repeats itself again with Toyota shuttering NUMMI. Its not just the workers that lose. YOU lose too. Fewer dollars get pumped back into our economy and it drags everything else down. Less people with money buying good and services which support YOUR job. It's just how the economy works when 70% of our GDP is consumer spending. And some of you think that lower wages is good? Good paying union jobs, like those at NUMMI prop up other wages. With good paying union wages gone, there's nothing to support your wages and your own wages will begin a downward spiral. It's a fact that wages have not kept up with inflation and when you take into account health care, housing and education, the average income is falling rapidly behind. All this time, union representation is at an all time low. And at the same time, the income disparity is back to 1930s levels with the top 1% income earners making more and more of the income. When union people get screwed over, so do you. As far as this deal is concerned. its still up in the air as to the details of what will happen. Toyota has not given any money yet. Toyota has pledged to buy $50 million in shares after Tesla's IPO. There's also no guarantee that the S Model will sell. These cars cost $50k+ . Will people buy them? Will Tesla sell 20,000 of them per year? There's the problem of how many will be hired. Tesla claims 1000 will be hired for an eventual production of 20,000 cars. But NUMMI employed 4500 to produce 400,000 at its peak. That does not add up.

  • Mailbox20 Mailbox20 on May 28, 2010

    Anybody think Toyota will use Tesla as a "mini Scion"? A place to build and sell more "niche" vehicles (volume well under 100K, more like 30K-50K). FT-86? A-Bat?

  • Joe This is called a man in the middle attack and has been around for years. You can fall for this in a Starbucks as easily as when you’re charging your car. Nothing new here…
  • AZFelix Hilux technical, preferably with a swivel mount.
  • ToolGuy This is the kind of thing you get when you give people faster internet.
  • ToolGuy North America is already the greatest country on the planet, and I have learned to be careful about what I wish for in terms of making changes. I mean, if Greenland wants to buy JDM vehicles, isn't that for the Danes to decide?
  • ToolGuy Once again my home did not catch on fire and my fire extinguisher(s) stayed in the closet, unused. I guess I threw my money away on fire extinguishers.(And by fire extinguishers I mean nuclear missiles.)
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