I Am A Bad Consumer

Kenichi Uchino and Family

Here's I've been feeling so pleased with myself for buying an environmentally-friendly, non-gas-guzzling Toyota Prius. Turns out Toyota is a labor-exploiting employer that uses contract workers who get paid no benefits to pad its enormous corporate profits. Should have known better. Maybe my next car should be a horse.

The National Labor Committee: The Toyota You Don’t Know
The Race to the Bottom in the Auto Industry

How would [] celebrities—and the many Prius devotees across America—respond if they knew that a full one-third of Prius assembly line workers in Japan are hired as “temps,” with few rights, earning just 60 percent of what full time workers do, and even less when benefits are taken into account? Most Americans have never heard of Kenichi Uchino, who at 30 years of age died of overwork at the Prius plant, routinely working 14-hour shifts and putting in anywhere between 107 and 155 hours of overtime a month—at least 61 1/2 hours of which was unpaid. The Toyota Company said the 61 ½ hours were “voluntary” and therefore unpaid. Mr. Uchino left behind a young wife and two children—a one-year-old son and a three-year-old daughter. Neither Toyota management nor the “company” union at Toyota lifted a finger to help his family survive. The Japanese people even have a word for being overworked to death—“Karoshi.” Toyota’s parts supply chain is also riddled with sweatshop abuse, including the human trafficking of tens of thousands of foreign guest workers—mostly from China and Vietnam—to Japan, where they are stripped of their passports and forced to work grueling hours seven days a week, often earning less than half of the legal minimum wage. Sixteen-hour shifts, from 8:00 a.m. to midnight, would not be uncommon. Most people have no idea that Toyota—through the Toyota Tsusho Corporation which is a part of the Toyota Group—is involved in a joint venture with the ruthless military dictators in Burma, where nearly 50 million people live in fear and want. The United Nations/International Labor Organization points to Toyota’s repression of freedom of association at its plant in the Philippines as “an illustration of how a multinational company, apparently with little regard for corporate responsibility, has done everything in its power to prevent recognition and certification of the Toyota Motor Company Workers Association” (ILO Workers Group, December 2003). Once again, the “company” union at Toyota has refused to challenge Toyota management for its ties with the Burmese dictators or its repression of freedom of association with respect for worker rights in the Philippines.

This is not to say that Toyota is another Wal-Mart. If Toyota were not in some ways a decent and very effectively run company, it would not be the largest auto company in the world. A full-time assembly line worker at Toyota has a good paying middle class job, allowing them to raise their families in decency. (Still, Toyota wages in Japan are only about 50 percent of union wages and benefits in the U.S.) And if a full time worker stays “clean,” and does not get injured on the job or fall ill, they will have a job for life at Toyota. By “clean” the workers mean not doing anything to oppose Toyota management or the company union.

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[W]hat do [] celebrities and the rest of us know about the labor practices and working conditions under which the Prius and other Toyota cars are made in Japan? Really nothing. Why is the commitment to protect our environment so often divorced from a similar concern to protect human and worker rights?

* Low wage temps: a full one-third, or 10,000 Toyota assembly line workers, are low wage temp and subcontract workers who earn less than 60 percent of what full time workers do. Temps have few rights and are hired under contracts as short as four months.

* Overworked to death: Mr Kenichi Uchino died of overwork at Toyota’s Prius plant when he was just 30. He was routinely working 14-hour shifts and putting in anywhere from 107 to 155 hours of overtime a month—at least 61 ½ hours of which were unpaid. Toyota said the hours were “voluntary” and therefore not paid. Mr. Uchino left behind his young wife, a one-year-old son and a three-year-old daughter. The Japanese people even have a word for being overworked to death: “karoshi.” An estimated 200 to 300 workers a year suffer serious illness, depression and death due to overwork.

* Sweatshops and human trafficking: Toyota’s parts supply chain is riddled with sweatshop abuse, including the human trafficking of tens of thousands of foreign guest workers—mostly from China and Vietnam—to Japan, where they are stripped of their passports and forced to work grueling hours seven days a week, often earning less than half the legal minimum wage. Sixteen-hour shifts, from 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 midnight are common.

* Linked to Burmese Dictators: Toyota—through the Toyota Tsusho Corporation which is part of the Toyota Group—is involved in several joint business ventures with the ruthless military dictators of Burma, which put revenues into the pockets of the dictators who use it to repress Burma’s 50 million people.

* Toyota criticized by the ILO: The UN/International Labor Organization points to Toyota’s suppression of freedom of association at its plant in the Philippines as “an illustration of how a multinational company, apparently with little regard for corporate responsibility, has done everything in its power to prevent recognition and certification of the Toyota Motor Company Workers Association.” (ILO Working Group, December 2003.)

* Toyota leads the Race to the Bottom: Toyota, now the largest auto company in the world, is using its size and success to impose its two-tier, low-wage model at its non-union plants across America, which will result in a race to the bottom with wages and benefits being slashed throughout the entire auto industry.

Toyota’s Profit Reaches $16.7 Billion
The American People Purchase
56,923 Toyota Vehicles Each Week
Toyota reached record profits of $16.7 billion in its fiscal year ending March 31, 2008. Toyota is earning $45.8 million a day, every day of the year.

Toyota sells more vehicles in the U.S. (2.92 million cars, vans and trucks) than in Japan (2.19 million) where its sales are falling.

One third of Toyota’s worldwide sales are in the U.S. The American people purchase 56,923 Toyota vehicles each week.

Hat tip to Laura Flanders of firedoglake.