New report examines Toyota labor practices

The National Labor Committee (NLC), a non-profit advocacy group which examines labor conditions around the globe, has released a new report on Toyota Motor Company.

The 65-page study, “The Toyota You Don’t Know: The Race to the Bottom in the Auto Industry ,” documents several areas of concern regarding Toyota’s labor practices. Issues raised by the NLC report include:

• Toyota’s use of low-wage temps, with no rights and no job security, in its Japanese factories;

• Use of foreign guest workers within the Toyota auto parts supply chain, who are forced to work long hours and paid less than Japan’s minimum wage;

• Overwork in Toyota’s factories, including mandatory unpaid overtime;

• Joint business ventures between a Toyota subsidiary and the Burmese military regime;

• Repression of labor rights in the Philippines, where Toyota illegally fired workers for exercising their right to organize;

• Toyota’s decision to impose a low-wage model at non-union plants in the U.S., which the NLC says “will result in wages and benefits being slashed across the entire auto industry.”

A full copy of the report is available on the NLC website.

Note: “The Toyota You Don’t Know” was prepared by the National Labor Committee, not by the UAW. The findings and conclusions contained in the report are the responsibility of its authors. It is referenced here because the report raises issues of interest and concern for Toyota workers and their families.