Posted on 04/15/2006 5:38:00 AM PDT by wallcrawlr
PRINCETON, Ind. — Janet Greenwell and her husband, Richard, scraped by for years.
Now they live in a 4,000-square-foot brick house, their income has grown 40 percent and Janet can stay home to care for their two kids.
Their improved lifestyle descended upon them like a pale white spaceship, which is exactly what Toyota's massive auto plant looks like and where Richard Greenwell now works.
"You feel as if you just hit the lottery and you are blessed," she said.
The existence of the auto plant, plopped in the middle of a windswept cornfield, separates this southwest corner of Indiana from a state battered by factory closings. The plant also separates this area from much of the Midwest, which is in the midst of yet another painful retrenchment of the unionized auto industry, perhaps the greatest downsizing in Detroit's history.
That trend has hit home in St. Paul — where the Ford Motor Co. plans to close its 1,900-employee Ranger truck factory because of dwindling sales of the compact pickup — the only vehicle the plant makes. The closure was announced Thursday.
In stark contrast, the Toyota factory provides thousands of jobs with paychecks of $60,000 and more a year, company-paid health, dental and vision insurance, a pension plan and a 401(k) and on and on.
For some, whose only options before were low-paying jobs, working in the mines or moving elsewhere, it is as if the Japanese company had planted an ATM in a field and invited them to use it at the company's expense.
As General Motors Corp., Ford and parts suppliers to those companies shutter factories and slash employment, the new American auto industry is sprouting up in far different places than Detroit. This new industry includes the foreign competitors who aren't saddled with the huge costs associated with the domestic car companies.
Toyota picked a 1,100-acre cornfield in rural Gibson County, population 32,000. It was far from union strongholds, had good rail links and was about 180 miles from Toyota's Georgetown, Ky., plant.
From the 1,500 workers Toyota planned to hire more than 10 years ago when it signed the deal to build the plant, its work force has swollen to more than 5,200.
Initially, Toyota predicted spending $700 million on the factory. But by 2004, its investment had reached $2.5 billion, according to a study by economists at the University of Evansville and the University of Southern Indiana. By their tallies, the factory's payroll was $310 million with another $106 million in benefits for 2004, and the facility had spawned nearly 13,000 area jobs.
But Toyota's impact goes beyond its payroll.
The largest employer for miles, the company gave away nearly $1.9 million to area charities and public organizations last year. That's an all-time high locally for the company, which, as officials explain, prefers to go slow when throwing around its money and clout.
"We have tried to make sure we are not the 800-pound gorilla," said plant vice president R.J. Reynolds.
When the factory opened, production workers earned $13 an hour. Today, the pay is $25 an hour for unskilled workers after two years on the job, and $28 an hour for skilled workers. With sales doing well for the trucks and minivans produced there, workers lately have been putting in at least an hour's overtime daily.
Working in the hectic-seeming, cramped confines of the sprawling facility, which runs around the clock, are former miners, farmers, housewives and white-collar workers, experienced factory hands and younger workers with technical degrees. The average worker's age at the plant is 37 years old compared with 50 years old for General Motors, the nation's largest automaker.
Stop insourcing now!
It'll be nice when the Camry is running in Nextel Cup Racing next season. A lot of American workers help build that car.
Thanks unions!
The bizarro world to the goons at the UAW.
"the greatest downsizing in Detroit's history
Thanks unions!'
Always wondered if the Unions have supported Republicans instead of Democrats, would it still be the same?
They probably won't have to. They offer a 401(k) plan instead of a "guaranteed" pension, which means their employees will be on their own the day they retire.
This, quite frankly, is how it always should have been for the Big Three. The difference between the fortunes of Toyota and General Motors is really nothing more than the difference between "defined contribution" and "defined benefit" pensions.
Sneaky foreigners giving Americans good jobs. Bastards!!
Well, hate to say it, but another reason for Toyota's success is they make quality products and produce cars that are reliable.
My folks just bought a new "American" car... they've only had it for 3 months and it's been in the shop twice (each time for more than 3 days.)
We, on the other hand, drive 10 year old Toyotas (which we've had since they were new) and I can't remember the last time our cars were in the shop (knock on wood, LOL.)
I had a conversation with a union electrician at the project I'm assigned to. He was bitching about how many 'brothers' were losing their job at Ford and GM. I mentioned that the Chrysler plants seem unaffected from the current retrenching, and that he ought to consider deeper research into American content and labor of the so-called 'foriegn' companies that are building cars at American plants.
The conversation ended abruptly about then and every time I see this guy in the construction site, usually trying to avoid his foreman as he shirks his job, he heads out the other way to avoid me.
Tool.
The United Auto Workers have been a pro-socialist organization since they were founded.
Been driving a Sonata for three years. Best damn car I've ever owned or leased. Now for some GM products that I've had in the past...
Unions have destroyed (as you point out) GM and Ford.
...meanwhile, back here in San Antonio...
We're adding nearly 5000 jobs as Toyota builds a new production facility for pickups. This NON-UNION plant (thank God) will hire thousands of people at higher wages, result in thousands of jobs at suppliers and contribute tons of money to our community. In addition, the tax revenues for this will fund considerable infrastructure and school improvements on our city's south side -- long the poorest section of the city.
A union malingerer? What are the odds?
Maybe the unions will learn a thing or two.
On the other hand, my family won't be buying any more Toyota cars. My mom took her Camry to the dealer for some minor stuff. They tried to get her to authorize $3500 worth of repairs. I took the car to my mechanic, and he fixed it for $150, most of the claimed problems were bogus. I then had a 2nd garage that I trust check it out, and it was fine.
Scummy dealer was just trying to shake down an elderly woman, and that's not the first time I've encountered shady Toyota dealers. We'll stick with Honda or Nissan. Toyota can kiss my a$$.
Let me guess, he blames Bush??
Read the story again. "In stark contrast, the Toyota factory provides thousands of jobs with paychecks of $60,000 and more a year, company-paid health, dental and vision insurance, a pension plan and a 401(k) and on and on." In short Toyota gives their non-union employees the same kind of compensation that the UAW got their employees. Toyota doesn't have thousands of retirees to support like the big three have, or all those workers in job banks. But 20 or 30 years from now they might.
You can say that the Unions killed the big three and there is no doubt that worker costs per car are a big handicap. But the Unions don't decide what kind of cars to make or what future products to offer. Management does that. When the whole country wanted big honking gas-guzzling SUVs then management were the heroes and the companies made money in spite of the Union contracts. Now that the market has changed they're three or four years too slow on bringing new products into the pipeline. Can't blame the UAW for that.
I would never take a car to a dealer for work unless it was warranty work or a recall. It's been my experience that dealer repairs are a huge rip-off. You are much better off finding a small, independent service garage. Word of mouth is always the best way to find one.
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