THE US REPORT

by Kay B. Day

This antique beauty snapped at a car show in Jacksonville was built at a time when a car was a car. [Photo by Kay B. Day]NUMMI seemed like a good idea. GM was about to close a plant and a partnership with Toyota seemed like a solution. In the 1980s, had Toyota not come along, the Fremont plant would’ve likely ceased to operate. Now Toyota wants out, and American workers will feel the bite.

Protests and petition drives by union members are underway after Toyota announced the closing of New United Motor Manufacturing, Inc., plant in Fremont, Calif. The Japanese car maker’s contract with NUMMI ends April 1.

 In the March/April 2010 issue of ‘Solidarity,’ the magazine for UAW members [The International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America], a feature story described protests that included members who “took their message to the Japanese Embassy in Washington on Jan. 28.”

A study by California state officials found 25,000 jobs will be lost when the plant closes. Solidarity puts the figure higher, projecting losses of 4,500 Local 2244 members, and “up to 50,000 supplier and support workers, including hundreds of members of UAW Local 76.

 NUMMI was actually a partnership of sorts between General Motors before GM came under the wings of the US government and Toyota. Solidarity said NUMMI opened 25 years ago.

GM left NUMMI in 2009 as part of a bankruptcy plan.

Solidarity also said the closing would be the “first time in its 75-year history that Toyota has closed a plant.” The magazine points out NUMMI “is the only unionized Toyota assembly plant in the United States…”—this makes the case for a ripple effect on wages and benefits of all automobile plant workers in the country.

Ironically Toyota benefited tremendously from the federal Cash for Clunkers program. UAW vice president Bob King said, “California led the nation in ‘cash for clunkers’ sales in 2009, and Toyota sold more cars under this program than any other automaker.”

But the complete story on NUMMI reaches far past actions by Toyota.

In the 1980s when the US government approved the NUMMI partnership despite strong objections from other manufacturers like Chrysler, the government believed the new plant would bring car prices down and boost US manufacturing jobs. The project was described as “bullet-proof” and proponents assured the collaboration would bring no harm. Originally the agreement provided for building 250,000 cars a year for 12 years.

A Business Week story from Bloomberg noted that Toyota is setting money aside for displaced workers although GM has done nothing of the sort—“Toyota Motor Corp., the world’s largest carmaker said it’s providing $250 million for workers who will lose their jobs when a former joint-venture auto-assembly plant in California closes next month.”

Criticism and fury are being leveled at the Japanese automaker, with boycotts planned. GM appears to be escaping much of that fury. The Business Week story noted comments from Toyota: “‘The support we are providing to Nummi underscores our commitment to do our part,’ said Jim Wiseman, a group vice president for Toyota’s North American unit. ‘It is unfortunate that neither GM—NUMMI’s other 50 percent shareholder and customer for 25 years –nor Motors Liquidation Company, its current shareholder, has indicated that it will do the same.’”

NUMMI was an experiment of sorts following the first closure of the plant in the 80s when GM operated it alone.

Although Toyota is receiving the brunt of criticism for job losses, history suggests General Motors and the US government also played a significant role in the evolution of the California plant and circumstances that Toyota believes warrant its closing. The NUMMI breakdown is far more complex than setting up a foreign manufacturer as bogeyman, and is perhaps another casualty in an economy increasingly dominated by government rather than by the free market.

Solidarity said NUMMI “is the last vehicle assembly plant in the western United States.” NUMMI was the first time US and Japanese auto companies partnered to build autos in the US.