Japanese unions share similar concerns with UAW

[Omaha Steve]

Full story: http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060802/AUTO02/608020429/1148/AUTO01



Wednesday, August 02, 2006


Christine Tierney

Japanese unions share similar concerns with UAW

Compared with the United Auto Workers, one of the oldest and toughest U.S. labor organizations, Japanese unions seem compliant. The rhetoric is milder, and the emphasis is on cooperation.

"The relationship between labor and management in Japan is quite different from that in America," Isao Yoshida, president of the Federation of all Daihatsu Automobile Workers' Unions, said in Detroit Tuesday.

That's partly due to the histories of the two countries' labor movements, said Yoshida, who was concluding a three-day visit with a group of Japanese union representatives.

But he remarked that UAW leaders seem to have moderated their approach since his last visit to the United States in the 1990s.

"I could see that they're more interested in raising quality and productivity, compared with my previous visits," Yoshida said of his meeting Monday with UAW officials. "That's more like the way the Japanese think."

In Japan, the unions' main goal is to maintain employment, he said. "Once you're out of the work force, it's very hard to be hired again, so having employment is very important."

Shifting abroad

Japan's auto industry marked a major milestone this week with the report that Japanese manufacturers built 10.9 million vehicles overseas in the year ended March 31, slightly more than they did at home.

The trend attests to their ability to compete internationally but poses a dilemma for Japanese union leaders.

Japanese unions are asking the Japanese Automobile Manufacturers Association to maintain production in Japan at 10 million vehicles, Yoshida said.

Oddly enough, the Japanese union representatives said they had not discussed the Japanese transplants in the United States with their UAW counterparts.

The UAW is renewing its efforts to organize foreign-owned plants here, most in the South.

The Japanese labor representatives said they had not been asked to help in the drive.

Asked about the situation, one of them demurred, "It's hard to say whether it's bad for them not to have representation."

[Kagemusha]

1. Kind of interesting but, sounds like the unions talk past each other

Not sure how anyone's gonna change that either. Or wants to. Or sees any advantage from it.

[xchrom]

2. damn it -- these unions should be talking to each other!

of all i read here -- it was this that got my attention:''The UAW is renewing its efforts to organize foreign-owned plants here, most in the South.
The Japanese labor representatives said they had not been asked to help in the drive.
Asked about the situation, one of them demurred, "It's hard to say whether it's bad for them not to have representation."


it is unbelievable to me -- that in this day and age -- that the unions aren't looking to get a strong alliance going with unions in other parts of the world.