UAW bans “foreign” cars from union property
It’s actually been a long-standing policy for many years, but United Auto Workers leadership have confirmed they will continue to enforce the policy and probably be even more aggressive. This is pure marketing genius I tell you, especially for an organization with a serious image problem.
The bully tactics of UAW management will become more pronounced if the current political leadership continues their quest to “reset the economic normal” to 10 percent unemployment, lower wages and constant economic uncertainty. From AutoBlog, with my emphasis in bold.
Drive a non-General Motors, Ford or Chrysler product? Don’t try to park it any lot owned by the United Auto Workers. That has been the stance for many years, and new UAW President Bob King [pictured] is making it known that he will follow that rule to the letter, regardless of situation. The Detroit News reports that Kansas City Business Journal reporter James Dornbrook learned this lesson the hard way as he was asked to remove his Toyota Camry from Local 249’s parking lot by an unidentified member. The scribe later wrote that his Camry was built at Toyota’s Georgetown, Kentucky plant and that the popular midsize sedan contains more domestic content than the Ford F-150.
From Dornbrook’s blog post about the incident, with my emphasis in bold.
When I got back to the office, I did some research. My Toyota Camry was built in Georgetown, Ky. — by American auto workers. In fact, my Kentucky-built Toyota Camry has more American-made parts in it than the Claycomo-built Ford F-150, which recently got knocked off the Cars.com American-made Index’s top 10 list. The domestic parts content of the F-150 dropped to 55 percent; the index requires vehicles to have at least 75 percent of parts produced in the United States. The car that dethroned the F-150 on this list: the Toyota Camry.
But that does not matter, since the Toyota plant does not include the union management bullies who throw their weight around demonizing management and owners at every turn.
Update with a great comment from Free Republic reader bboop…
Wait! It’s a foreign car, BORN in the United States. He should ask for amnesty — and citizenship. And food stamps. And free housing.
Of course, Toyota did not need billions of dollars of cash injected by the federal government to save their ass, but maybe since the union was handed over a significant portion of GM and Chrysler, they will be forced to figure out what makes a business profitable.
Even the guy who demanded Dornbrook move his Toyota out of the lot refused to identify himself and could not grasp the concept the reporter was at the UAW local office to cover a bill signing event that would save union jobs. As usual, the one-issue bully didn’t grasp the concept.
I told this guy I was with the media, there only to cover the bill signing. It didn’t change his mind.
I asked for his name. He didn’t give it.
I asked him if he wanted coverage of the bill signing (which would allow the funneling of Missouri taxpayer money — including mine — to the plant to help retain jobs such as his), because if I can’t park, I have to leave. He said, “I’m willing to help you trade that in for a new Ford today, but you can’t park that car there.”
I mentioned that I’ve written at least a dozen stories about how the Claycomo plant could be in danger of closure as Ford realigns its production operations in the United States and around the globe.
The fact is, in February 2009, I was one of the first to report that Ford’s Kansas City plant could be in danger of closure — a possibility that the new legislation hopes to mitigate. In the story I wrote, UAW Local 249 president Jeff Wright said he hadn’t heard anything about the possible plant closure.
None of that mattered to this guy.
Of course not, because they don’t really care about anything else. Can you imagine the road rage these fools must feel as they drive down the highway while their kids playfully punch each other every time they see a Volkswagen?
[Punch] “Red one” … [Punch] “White one” … [Punch] “Blue one” …
My guess is those commercials are off-limits in many union households.
Morning Update: Today’s companion story from Ed Morrissey at Hot Air … Unemployment ticks up to 9.6 percent with 54,000 jobs lost.
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Is it just me, or does UAW President Bob King look extraordinarily like Julian Assange of Wikileaks?
All humor aside, isn't it really the job of say Ford to ask (not insist) that employees drive their product? They do get good discounts to do so, so it isn't like Ford doesn't provide incentive. What does the UAW do, other than add more than $2000 to the price of a new car? I agree with the poor slob with the Camry: it is content, not labels. The UAW simply doesn't like non union shops, which the foreign manufacturers seem to be able to run with the blessings of the workers.
I recall that union strikes killed one of the best vehicles I ever drove, the International Scout. They struck until the company effectively went bankrupt and reorganized, minus a bunch of workers. How did that work out for them?
Dims I had an IH 1 ton pickup that just wouldn't die. International is now known as Navistar
Yeah, I know, Tom, but the light and medium duty divisions are no more thanks to that strike. All the ones I had ran over 300K without a valve cover being off.