SocraticGadfly: UAW ‘cut its own throat’ 20 years ago

December 07, 2008

UAW ‘cut its own throat’ 20 years ago

Union management stupidity with Japanese plants equals Big Three management stupidity

Jonathan Cutler asks an elementary question — why didn’t the United Auto Workers unionize the Japanese auto plants built here in the U.S.?

The normal response is one of two things — people say it’s because the U.S. plants are all in right-to-work states or because Japanese carmakers are strongly anti-union.

To which Cutler replies:
• Japanese plants in Japan are unionized, under the Japanese Automobile Workers Confederation;
• Honda’s first U.S. plant was the one it still has at Marysville, Ohio;
• The UAW had plenty of contacts with the Japanese union;
• UAW President Douglas Fraser invited the Japanese to come build here.

Read the full story, then scratch your head at the stupidity of the UAW.

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