Japan Automakers Steer Clear of Unions

[Omaha Steve]

http://apnews.excite.com/article/20070325/D8O3ADM80.html

Japan Automakers Steer Clear of Unions


Mar 25, 12:43 PM (ET)

By TOM MURPHY

LAFAYETTE, Ind. (AP) - Subaru worker Steve Durham remembers attending a meeting to discuss unionizing, only to be stunned by the turnout: Just 10 of the factory's 2,000-plus workers showed up.

But it wasn't until he found no takers for the union fliers he tried to distribute that reality dawned.

"I couldn't find another person to join," he said. "I ended up throwing them all in the trash. People just aren't interested."

Durham's experience is typical of Japanese automakers, which, with few exceptions, have avoided organized labor at the nearly dozen U.S. assembly plants they operate.

Leaders of the United Auto Workers union said recently that they want to organize employees at the U.S. operations of foreign automakers and their suppliers. But labor experts question whether they'll be successful, saying decent wages, factory location and some subtle screening all enable the foreign carmakers to remain union-free.

"A union has a difficult time convincing others to join when workers already get what they perceive to be really good benefits and pay," said Steven Szakaly, an economist with the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor, Mich.

Randy Bagby, another worker at the Subaru of Indiana Automotive plant about 60 miles northwest of Indianapolis, agreed. He said the plant offers workers vision and health benefits similar to what friends in unionized factories receive.

"If they're giving us the benefits and pay that's comparable to what the UAW plants give, why would we want them in there messing with what we already have?"

The UAW, which once represented 95 percent of U.S. auto workers, has seen its membership drop by 60 percent, from a peak of 1.5 million in 1979 to less than 600,000 in 2005.

FULL story at link.

[Little Wing]

1. People have probably associated the UAW with mass layoffs and cut pensions

by now -thanks to GM and Ford and the other US fuckups

[komda]

2. It's the code

The Japanese by nature avoid conflict with almost anything. Maybe it's a "tail between the legs" thing post WWII, I really couldn't say.

[Solo_in_MD]

3. This is modern challenge that unions have failed to date to overcome

Between competitive benefits and increased Government protection organizers need to show the workers that it is in thier compelling best interest to form a union. Bluntly, its not happening.