Ford Workers Annoyed With Toyota

I’ve declared many times on TTAC that I’m a bit of what you folks across the pond would call a liberal. I believe people should have a baseline in terms of living standards, but people should still work for the better things in life. The state should be there to help people, not sustain them. My point is that when an entity gets too much power (or THINKS it has) then the balance of power is shifted and seldom ever for the better. Everything is good is moderation. I feel the same way about Unions. Contrary to popular belief, I’m not anti-union. Unions have done a lot of good for the common working person. They fought for better working environments, better pay, better job security, etc. It is impossible to deny the good they’ve done. But like Harvey Dent said in “The Dark Knight”, “You can either die a hero or live long enough to become a villain”. And unfortunately, this article doesn’t exactly show unions in a good light.

The good folks at Ford’s Twin Cities Assembly Plant have a different version. They believe, NUMMI was closed because NUMMI was unionized and they want Toyota to fess up. The first of their protests consisted of Ford workers holding signs up saying “Honk 4 People B4 Profits” at an intersection of Beam Avenue and Highway 61. Now they’re bringing out the big guns. “We’re going to be taking these types of actions all over the Twin Cities area, hitting different dealerships throughout the area, just getting the message out that Toyota has some poor business practices,” said David Perkins, a worker at the Ranger plant in Highland Park and a member of United Auto Workers Local 879. (They might want to get better signs. Simply “People B4 Profits” is kind of generic – wouldn’t you agree? And they should make them legible so that motorists can read them without undue driver distraction.)

“Toyota is the only (auto) manufacturer in the United States that is non-union, but that’s kind of hypocritical because in Japan they are union. For whatever reason – well, for profit reasons, for money-driven reasons – they choose to have non-union manufacturers here in the United States. That puts American manufacturers at a distinct disadvantage.”

The article then finishes off with a quote which kind of summed up the whole affair. “When we buy foreign cars it takes money away from America,” said Sylvia Rutledge, another Ranger Plant employee. “We should always, always support America – not just with cars, with anything. Always buy American.” Really, Miss Rutledge? Are you asking your fellow Americans to boycott the Ford Fusion? Or the Cadillac SRX? The Chevrolet Impala? The Ford Fiesta? The Chevrolet Aveo? The Chevrolet Equinox? Let me tell you, blindly following America can get you into a lot of trouble. Just ask Tony Blair.