Mazda to make new Toyota subcompact in Mexico

[nookandcrannycar]

Originally Posted by nookandcrannycar

Yeah, I hope Why? is okay.

I think in the early 1950s (and earlier) there were many hard working people in private industry who took their jobs very seriously and were being taken advantage of. The unions, at that point, served a, what some might consider, more noble purpose. Unions also had more leverage at that time because industry didn't have as many (on in some cases any) alternative production locations.

I think there are still some union workers who have quite a bit of pride and obviously take their jobs very seriously (the right attitude, IMO). Some of them are right here on Yarisworld. Billiam comes to mind. His passion and serious mindset permeates his words. However, I think the pool of union members with that (IMO) correct mindset is getting smaller with each passing year.

There are even a few UAW workers with the right mindset. One line worker in Michigan (who I believe has since retired) was profiled on one of the newsmagazine shows (60 minutes, etc.) His goal was to reach an net value of 2 million USD in his brokerage account and then (even though eligible for retirement) keep working and donate all of his wages to charity. Fast forward to 2012 and there was a measure on the Michigan ballot to codify collective bargaining into the state constitution. Sanity prevailed, and it didn't pass. The UAW has, however, certainly has had excesses revealed...both publicly and privately. In a public way, look at the Chrysler workers interrupted while smoking and drinking in a park by a local reporter...TWICE. One would have thought that they would have learned after this happened the first time. Privately, the best friend of a girlfriend of mine in the 90s started dating a guy who worked at the NUMMI plant. This guy was as dumb as a rock. My girlfriend had never known any union workers before this and, although very intelligent, wasn't very well versed in the world of unions. The girlfriend's boyfriend had the job of taking the car off the end of the line driving it to where it would be kept (temporarily) on the property. My girlfriend thought this guy might be making minimum wage (or a bit more) because his job was so simple. Her friend (the girlfriend of the UAW worker) said her boyfriend was making 40.00 per hour. My girlfriend was outraged.

At least with some unions in private industry, the consumer has a chance to vote with their dollars. With public sector unions, they don't. Even FDR (32nd POTUS) thought public sector unions were wrong, that in essence, the fox would be guarding the hen house'. In the 1950s Mayor Wagner in New York City first allowed public employee unions, and afterward got reelected. President Kennedy (even though he had already said 'Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country') saw what Wagner..........POSTING NOW (I'M AT A CAFE THAT IS CLOSING) WILL EDIT/FINISH IN A FEW MINUTES.

This is post #28 on the thread. I created a post #29 to finish this post and then lost it just as I was finishing it (was typing on another laptop I have and it shut down (warning I missed?) for an automatic windows update just as I was about to finish that post. I relayed this in post #29. I did log on the next day to finish (as I mentioned I would in post #29). Before coming back to this thread on that day (11-20-12) I read the most recent posts/threads in the Off Topic/other Cars/Everything Else discussions. Jumpman Yaris started the "Where does our tax money go?" thread with the Judge Judy clip. After two of my replies, one of the mods warned that the thread might best be in the Open Political Discussions area. Much of what I had written (and lost) and was going to resurrect is at least as political as what I wrote on the 'Judge Judy' thread, so I waited to 'finish' this post (as I would not be including that 'too political content.....I didn't want this thread to be closed or moved).

The one part of what I was thinking while composing post #28 relates to a question that occurred to me while I was reading Black Yaris's post #19. I thought -- 'I wonder when the last UAW affiliated vehicle manufacturing plant opened in the U.S. ?'. I haven't found a definitive answer on this (even with different types of searches) but I have gained some knowledge I didn't have before. The UAW topped out at 1.5 million members and have 390,000+ active members and 600,00+ retirees. Some of their members are Academic Student Employees at various universities (all of which I noticed are in union (collective bargaining) states). I'd love to give my opinion about that, but it would just be too sarcastic. I read, in several different articles, about the UAW's 'do or die southern strategy' to unionize foreign auto plants in the U.S South. The last vote, from what I read, was at the Nissan Plant in Smyrna, TN in 2001, which Nissan won by a 2-1 margin. From what I gather the next target (of an actual auto manufacturing plant--not just a supplier) is the Nissan plant in Canton, MS.

The last UAW affiliated auto manufacturing plant that opened in the U.S. (from what I can find) is the now GM plant in Spring Hill, TN, which opened in 1990. If any Yarisworld members know of a newer plant, please contribute. I'd just like to know, mainly from a historical perspective.