House of Paine

NIP AND FUCK

SURE 
   THE UAW'S 
         BUTTERFINGER
HAS A REAL CESS POOL 
         TO SWIM THRU 
                  OVER AT GM
...................................

well weed brain 

   WHAT ABOUT TOYOTA
                    OF NORTE AMERIKA  ?

===============================


"
    HUNTSVILLE, Ala., June 17 
 By most accounts, the United States
 auto industry 
is in deep trouble
 But don't tell that 
to the newest workers 
here in Alabama
 where foreign carmakers 
are redefining 
the auto industry in America"

 
 
"Automakers from overseas 
first began building manufacturing plants
 in this country in the 1970's,
 largely as a defensive response
 to protectionist threats.......
             even as General Motors 
and Ford have been announcing
 thousands of job cuts, 
the foreign automakers
 are aggressively building
 new factories 
and expanding plants 
they opened not long ago. 



 a quarter of all cars and trucks built
 in the United States 
are now made in factories 
owned by foreign automakers 
producing foreign brands

FOREIGN OWNED assembly plants  
employ nearly 60,000 people
 
 Automakers in Detroit
 EMPLOY 
- 250,000 - WORKERS

 . 

Union jobs
 at the Big Three plants 
pay a dollar or two more an hour
 - about $26 an hour 
compared with $24 or $25 an hour 
for the nonunion jobs
 at the foreign plants

 But compensation 
at the American automakers 
swells to an average
 of $55 an hour 
when health care,
 cost of living 
and other benefits
 are counted,
 compared with $48 an hour,
 on average, at Toyota.

Toyota gets more out of its workers
. Its plants operate 
at about 107 percent
 of the manufacturing capacity
 By contrast, 
G.M.'s plants are operating
 at only 75 percent 
of their capacity


For the most part,
 the first wave 
of foreign-owned plants 
were farther north,
 in places like Ohio and Kentucky,
 while the newest factories 
are concentrated in the Deep South.

The state of Alabama 
has been particularly generous 
in wooing auto companies
 In 1993, it provided $258 million 
in incentives and tax breaks
 to land its first foreign automaker
  

The state has spent hundreds 
of millions since 
to attract the Honda, 
Hyundai and Toyota plants.

But what may have clinched
 the deals was the state's laws 
- similar to those on the books 
throughout much of the South
 - that do not require workers 
to join unions even if
 their plants are organized.

Since 2000,
 the Big Three automakers have lost
 eight points of market share 
just to their Japanese competition.

 Detroit now holds 57 percent
 of the American car market,
 while foreign automakers have 43 percent. 


  

Among the companies adding jobs,
 no company is courted more than Toyota
, the world's richest car company, 
which is gaining strength
 even as G.M. falters.

 Beyond expanding its engine plant here,
 where its ultimate investment
 will be $450 million, 
Toyota is building 
a $1 billion factory in San Antonio 
- set to open next year 
with 4,000 workers. 
And company officials
 are looking at even more places,
 including Arkansas, 
to build additional factories.



In a state 
where the average wage is $31,000 a year,
 according to the Commerce Department,
 Toyota's workers earn $45,000 on average,
 with overtime, 
plus a benefits package 
valued by the company at $10,000. 

Workers receive medical, dental and life insurance coverage;
 a traditional pension plan
 and a 401(k) plan; 
an allowance for child care;
 and an annual cash bonus,
 which was $3,850 a worker last year. 

Prospective employees are lining up 
to apply for jobs at the new factories. 

Toyota, which opened its plant here
with 150 workers in 2003,
 had 9,000 applications 
for those positions,
 even though jobs in an engine plant 
lack the allure
 and glamour of building cars
 at places like Mercedes.

The process of getting a job 
at Toyota is rigorous,
 meant to weed out 
those not meant 
for the repetitive,
sometimes hot work 
inside the plant,


After interviews,
 job seekers had to complete 
five weeks 
of pre-employment training 
at a center, 
which is run and paid for by the state
 across the road from Alabama A&M University

 The drill included exercises 
to see if they could work on teams
 and hours spent on a practice assembly line
 None of the applicants were paid
 Anyone who was late
 or missed a training session 
was instantly cut. 

The few successful applicants
 went through nine weeks 
more training inside the engine plant
 including two hours a day 
in a fully equipped gym 
where they ran on treadmills
 and lifted weights to build endurance. 

Unlike plants run by Detroit automakers
 where a worker can spend 30 years 
screwing on the same parts
 everyone on the Toyota line 
is taught to do every type 
of assembly job
 so they can switch positions 
when needed 
to keep production flowing.




Lately, at least some Toyota officials
 in Japan have expressed concern 
that the automaker's rapid growth 
could cause political problems,
 with one senior executive
 proposing that the company
 might raise prices 
or temper its expansion 
to give G.M. and Ford a break.