What about us?
Autoworkers bargain for jobs, wages in Europe and Japan
The Fall 2008 issue of
On the Line News |
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At the end of World War II, Europe and Japan were devastated from nearly six years of war. The United States recognized that its economy and political structures had to be rebuilt quickly, in part as a bulwark against Communist expansion.
The Marshall Plan, named for Secretary of State George C. Marshall, was put into effect. In addition to massive financial and technical aid from the American people, government leaders understood that a modern labor union movement was necessary to encourage democracy in rebuilding nations. American trade union leaders were among the experts sent to advise European trade unionists on how to rebuild their organizations and be part of the massive reshaping of post-war democratic Europe.
Over there vs. over here. There’s a bit of irony in our government promoting unionism abroad nearly six decades ago and suppressing it now here at home. Today, workers at Toyota, Honda, Nissan, Mercedes, BMW and other multinational companies enjoy union protections in their home countries in Asia and Europe. But workers for these same companies here in the U.S. do not have the protection of collective bargaining or a union contract.
If workers at non-U.S. companies in this country decide to form a union, they’ll add the resources and strength of the UAW to their cause, in addition to having the support of their parent company’s homeland unions.
Collective bargaining has produced solid results in Germany, where workers at companies like Mercedes and BMW are part of IG Metall. In 2007, IG Metall – one of the world’s largest and most powerful trade unions – won a 4.1 percent pay raise for its members in engineering and auto manufacturing plants, followed by a 1.7 percent raise in 2008.
With a contract expiring this November, IG Metall members have proposed a 7 to 8 percent pay raise in their new agreement. The final outcome is subject to further negotiation, but one thing is for sure: Mercedes and BMW workers in Germany will have a voice in determining their own pay and benefits. But workers for the same companies here in the United States, with no union contract, can either accept what is offered by their employer, or seek another job.
 Likewise in Japan. In 2007, Toyota workers in Japan saw the benefits of collective bargaining in the most direct way possible – in their paychecks. Even though domestic vehicle sales fell to an all-time low last year, Toyota workers still negotiated pay raises and record bonuses.
But members of the Confederation of Japanese Autoworkers are still facing tough issues. At Toyota, there are now 30,000 workers in Japan, but 9,000 of them are limited-term contract employees. The pool of full-time, permanent workers building cars seems to continually get smaller.
Sound familiar?
Japanese union leaders at Toyota are demanding that contract workers, with more than one year of service, gain union membership and become permanent employees. Because they have a union contract, Toyota workers in Japan have the opportunity to raise these issues with management and work towards a solution.
Bridges across borders. Japanese autoworkers are also convinced that it is important to build bridges between workers in different countries, in order to arrive at fair solutions to the problems confronting today’s auto industry.
When he visited the United States in 2007, for example, Yuji Kato, president of the Confederation of Japanese Autoworkers (JAW), made a point of coming to Solidarity House, the UAW headquarters in Detroit, to discuss key issues with UAW leaders. “It is of vital importance that we are able to see the common denominators not just in the automotive industry but beyond,” said Kato. “We are seeing so much affecting workers everywhere, and Japan is no exception.”
UAW President Ron Gettelfinger shared a similar perspective with leaders from auto unions from all over the world when he spoke to the World Auto Council of the International Metalworkers Federation (IMF) in Brazil in June of this year.
“Although we come from different countries and cultures, speak different languages and have different perspectives on a wide variety of issues, our members increasingly work for the same employers and are confronted with the same company business/investment strategies and labor relations practices,” said Gettelfinger, who is also president of the IMF Automotive Department.
“The initiative of employers to increase their profits at the expense of workers is a global phenomenon. It is not unique to any one country. Our response, in turn, must be a global response. Failure to act globally has disastrous consequences.”
The IMF unites workers from metal-working unions from 100 countries around the globe. The World Auto Council of the IMF – which includes the UAW, IG Metall, the JAW, and many other unions – meets on a regular basis to assist autoworkers from around the world in confronting current industry conditions.
Unfortunately, when unionized autoworkers from all over the world join together to seek common solutions to the problems facing workers and their families, many U.S.
autoworkers – those who are not part of a union – are not part of the discussion.
Perils of the five–year plan. Global auto meetings are not the only conversations that take place without any input from non-union autoworkers. Unlike Toyota workers in Japan, Mercedes and BMW workers in Germany, and U.S. workers at Chrysler, Ford, and General Motors, U.S. workers at companies like Honda, Nissan and Toyota have no input when it comes to decisions about pay, benefits and working conditions.
Without any input from workers, for example, Toyota has developed a five-year plan to tie U.S. factory wages to average wages in states where the company does business. At a time when unionized Toyota workers in Japan are receiving raises and bonuses, a plant worker tells a Swedish newspaper that the company’s five-year plan could drop wages for U.S. Toyota workers by roughly 40 percent.
“I have worked here for eight years,” Erin Jordan told the Swedish newspaper Lo Tidningen. “Their business plan got me involved in seriously trying to get union representation at Toyota. It wasn't that I was against the union previously, but I didn’t think it had any direct impact on me. When I learned about their plans, it outraged me on a personal level.”
The interview in Lo Tidningen shows how the basic issues of fairness have come full circle. Sixty years ago, the U.S. insisted on establishing labor unions in Europe in Japan, as basic building blocks of democracy, and to insure decent working and living standards for European and Asian workers. Decades later, the European press has turned its eye back across the ocean, raising concerns about the lack of democracy at workplaces here in the United States. |
