why are foreign auto makers building or have built plants in the South?

[pstokely]

right to work?

[MrBenchley]

1. Got it in one

[nedlogg]

2. Right to Work?

Don't you just love that term? It means an employee has the right to bust his ass for shitty wages and benefits without some pesky union looking out for his rights.

[zonmoy]

9. Basicly

the south had to find some way to restart slavery without actually admitting or being held accountable for it.

[Maple]

3. We've lost plants

from Canada to the US because of no unions.

Which is why we don't get our panties in a bunch when you guys complain about outsourcing to India.

[TreasonousBastard]

4. heh!

I remember a few plants that moved here because we're a "low wage" country.

NAFTA works in mysterious ways...

[Interrobang]

8. Yeah, that's why we have to watch out for those folks who want to re-write

...the Labour Relations Act so it gets rid of our right to organize.

"Right-to-work" is about the stupidest thing I've ever heard of, from an employee's perspective. I've got some friends in Ohio (a RTW state), and one of them's been in six jobs in the last two years or so because employers there can just fire you without cause at any time. That's really great for her financial security...

I'd also just like to mention that I'm a white, First World, native English speaking outsourced worker, so the whole "job drift" thing goes both ways -- some jobs migrated south, some jobs migrated north. (We have a currency advantage -- for now.)

[ikojo]

5. Because to foreign companies who have plants in Germany and

other parts of Europe, the Southern US is as cheap as Mexico and India.


Non union workforce....

Right to work...

Employee at will....

[TreasonousBastard]

6. That's a large part of it...

but you could put a non-union plant up north if you wanted to these days. California has a huge Toyota plant, btw.

A lot of Southern states have much cheaper land and taxes, labor and safety laws are unheard of in some places... Some states have set up trade schools for autoworkers to take the heat off the company in training. New Jersey did a study of overall business costs, including capital and transaction costs, and found most Southern states are much cheaper to operate in. Some cost a third less or so than what NJ costs, and it's not just labor. Benefit costs are also much lower down there. Workmen's Comp is just one place you might save a bundle.

States down there also seem to have much more to give away for a plant. A former governor of South Carolina got the BMW plant by promising no taxes, freee land, the state would finance the construction, the state would buy thousands of BMWs a year, and even the employees wouldn't have to pay state taxes.

The next governor looked at the deal, shit a brick, and immediately started renegotiating things. Even BMW management admitted that the deal was incredibly stupid, but what the hell, if someone's going to do something that dumb...

[ronzo]

7. Are Japanese autos manufactured in the US....

Are Japanese autos manufactured in the US making the auto companies a better margin without the import tariffs? Just a thought...

[jmowreader]

10. Also transport costs

It's got to be cheaper to ship a car by rail from Marysville, Ohio, to Boston or Atlanta than it is to ship the same car to the Port of Los Angeles, offload it, put it on a train and haul it to Boston or Atlanta.

One thing fries my hide, though: It's a Honda. It's made in Ohio. They know what's in the water and what's in the antifreeze here. Why in HELL do they require you to use the special coolant designed around Japanese water, which in the US has to be mixed with distilled water for use? Why can't they make Honda engines that are destined for the US so they can use the coolant you can get in the US? I have to carry a gallon of Honda coolant around just in case.

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

12. Big part of it, yes.

it is cheap to bring the parts in, but tarrifs are high on finished product.

Also, what is a foreign car? A Honda made in Tennessee or a Chrysler made in Canada?

what a world.

[Don_G]

11. More Than That

Right-to-work states, immense tax breaks to relocate the factories there, cheap utilities plus the ffact that several states have tried to condemm the properties for the factories and have succeeded in several instances.

Sucks, dosen't it.