Three state legislators, prodded by union members, are working on measures to save the Toyota-GM NUMMI plant in California as workers were told the plant had work till October and a negotiation deadline was extended by several days.
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The ultimate fate of the 4,700-employee New United Motor Manufacturing Inc plant, the joint venture from which General Motors is pulling out as it axes both the Vibe built there and its Pontiac brand, remained unclear, local paper the San Jose Mercury reported on its website.
The lawmakers want to offer a package of tax breaks to keep the Fremont facility open in a state hit hard by credit crunch-induced unemployment and housing foreclosures but at least one of the proposals faltered in the Sacramento legislature in recent years, and it was unknown how the current, more dire outlook for the plant would change the debate, the paper added.
It doesn’t help that California (governed by a certain Mr A Schwarzenegger) was technically broke a few weeks ago and forced to issue IOUs to workers and suppliers until a budget package was finally thrashed out after marathon all-night sessions, and that only after large cuts to public services.
“The county is doing everything within its power to retain Alameda County’s largest manufacturer,” county supervisor Scott Haggerty said in a statement cited by the Mercury.
Plant managers have told union officials have been told by plant managers that it appears enough demand exists to keep the assembly lines running (building Toyota Corollas) until October.
The local UAW branch has emailed workers urging them to ask their local politicians for help.
“We believe that Toyotas sold in the United States should be made in the United States. California is by far Toyota’s single biggest market for car sales in the United States,” the UAW said in its email message.
Negotiations between automaker and union have now been extended by five days beyond the previously set 8 August and the union reportedly said it would be flexible on terms.
“Taking the necessary steps to dissolve our joint venture” is the primary direction of the negotiations between Toyota and Motors Liquidation [old GM], Paul Nolasco, a Toyota spokesman in Japan, told the Mercury.
Toyota has said repeatedly it had made no decision about the factory while an official was quoted as saying it was possible NUMMI could vanish as a legal entity yet Toyota could continue vehicle assembly there.
The UAW told members it wanted US lawmakers to intervene to “mandate fair bargaining” between Motors Liquidation and Toyota on the plant’s future.
California’s congressional delegation in Washington has sent an open letter to new Toyota president Akio Toyoda urging him to keep the plant open while Schwarzenegger formed a team of officials to try to save the plant and its jobs, and sent a state representative to meet with Toyota in Japan, according to Reuters.
NUMMI is California’s last remaining car plant. Toyota has its sales head office in the Los Angeles region and a design facility elsewhere in the state.
