MEDIA RELEASE PR38652
U.S. Delegation Warns Toyota Officials That Anger is Growing in U.S. Over Company's Plan to Close
California Auto Plant
TOYOTA CITY, Mar. 9 /PRNewswire-AsiaNet/ --
In abandoning its high-quality NUMMI factory, Toyota is
throwing away its greatest asset in its most important U.S. market: its "Made
in California" label
In a meeting in Toyota City this morning, a delegation of California
leaders cautioned company officials that pushing ahead with its plan to close
the New United Motor Manufacturing, Inc., factory in Fremont will alienate
the very consumers it needs most if the company is to recover from its
self-inflicted wounds. The delegation delivered to the company the report
port_Japanese.pdf) on the economic, social, and environmental impact of
closing the plant and recommendations from the Toyota NUMMI Blue Ribbon
Commission convened by California's Treasurer Bill Lockyer.
"Toyota is a company that has lost its way. It made a series of very bad
decisions that go against the principles that made them a great and
successful company, and closing NUMMI is another bad decision that it must
reverse," said UAW vice president Bob King. He told the Toyota officials that
his next step would be Washington, where he would be meeting with
congressional leaders from the state, many of whom represent areas where
NUMMI workers live or where large suppliers are located. "Anger is growing in
California and in Washington and among the millions of people represented by
this delegation and we want Toyota to understand that this meeting is not the
end of the story, but just the beginning."
"The fact that Toyotas are made in California is a very important factor
in Californians' relationship and brand loyalty to Toyota," said Carl Pope,
the executive director of the Sierra Club, "but the company's plan to abandon
California jeopardizes the relationship and brand loyalty it has developed
over the years. Toyota has more competitors than ever before for the state's
environmentally conscious car-buyers and if they throw away their 'made in
California' advantage, more of those buyers will be doing their car-shopping
elsewhere."
The risks Toyota is facing among California consumers was seconded by
Richard Holober, the executive director of the Consumer Federation of
California, who also emphasized that closing NUMMI flies in the face of the
company's recent pledge to recommit itself to high quality standards.
"Toyota's California factory has won awards repeatedly for excellence in
engineering and high quality products - in fact it is the only one that has
not had to be shut down for recalls," he said. "Keeping this factory
operating is crucial to the company's efforts to restore public confidence in
its vehicles."
Holober also pointed out that Toyota's image would be further damaged
because abandoning the Fremont plant would deepen already severe economic
hardships. "In Alameda County, where many of the Toyota workers live, 17,000
homes are now in foreclosure and in neighboring San Joaquin there are another
16-17,000, and 13,000 in Santa Clara. If Toyota closes NUMMI, we can expect
to see thousands more foreclosures."
Ron Lopez, a 20-year employee at NUMMI, shares those fears, especially
since both he and his wife Barbara work at the factory where they met in the
paint shop 15 years ago. Now, with both of them in their fifties, they worry
that finding other jobs will be hard. To avoid the risk of losing their home
to the bank, they reluctantly put it up for sale last week. "We put in 20
years of good, loyal service and we wanted to put in 20 more years," he said.
"We love our work and are proud of the awards we have won for the company -
they're all right there in the company's display case. We did nothing to
deserve this."
If Toyota refuses to reverse its decision, the count of workers who will
bear the brunt will not end with the 4,700 who now build cars and trucks
there. An estimated 25,000 jobs will be lost across the state in companies
that do business with Toyota's NUMMI plant. Fred Zuckerman, who directs the
Teamsters Union's Automobile Transport Division and is president of Joint
Council 94 in Kentucky, noted that his union's members are also facing
layoffs. "About 2000 Teamsters whose work depends directly on keeping this
plant open and building Toyotas," he said, "and other good union jobs are at
stake - the Steelworkers, for example, provide the steel and glass that goes
into every vehicle produced at NUMMI. We're in this fight to save those jobs
and the families that depend on them."
It's not just workers at the factory itself and in the companies that do
business with Toyota in Fremont that will suffer. As Nina Moore, the Director
of Government and Community Affairs for the Fremont Chamber of Commerce
explained, "Businesses throughout the community will suffer losses - hotels,
restaurants, retail establishments and services of all kinds depend on the
business generated by the people who work at or have business dealings with
the factory. All of them will suffer losses brought on by Toyota's action.
The nonprofit community will suffer, too, if we lose NUMMI, which has been an
important community partner, both through the company's direct support and
through the worker involvement they encouraged."
"Closing this factory would be a squandered opportunity for Toyota,"
Moore added. "Not only would they be throwing away the loyalty that they
could win by staying in Fremont, they will also lose the chance that could be
theirs at NUMMI to lead the industry in creating the next generation of clean
high-tech vehicles."
The Rev. Bruce Reyes-Chow, Moderator of the 218th General Assembly of the
Presbyterian Church USA, expressed the concerns of the faith community when
he said, "Historically Toyota has been a leader in the business world in its
commitment to its workers and it communities, but closing this factory would
be a betrayal of that history and of the philosophy and values that have,
until now, made Toyota a model of how a corporation should conduct its
business."
A final word of caution came from environmental advocate Carl Pope, who
said, "Toyota is in danger of making the same mistake that GM made. They
became too big and forgot their customers."
SOURCE California Labor Federation, AFL-CIO
CONTACT: U.S.,
Nancy Coleman,
+1-301-587-0172,
cell, +1-301-537-0172,
nancy.ann.coleman@gmail.com,
Japan,
Ron Carver,
+1-202-841-2900;
rcstrategy@aol.com
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