If Toyota, Honda, Subaru and other foreign car companies with plants in the US don't have Unions...?

Yes, their time has come, not because company owners treat non-union workers well (they generally do not), but because the unions are corrupt.

They go on sympathy strikes, block deliveries, threaten scab workers, and have tried to intimidate employees to bend to their will.

It is a sad commentary on workers rights when unions use employee dues to contribute to a candidates election. This should be illegal. That money is supposed to be used to help employees while on strike or in need of assistance, not to buy political support.

Let the unions fall, and rebuild an alliance without mafia rule, or intimidation.

Notice how the secret ballot is under attack?

What will be next, shooting out car windows or apartment windows?

Happened to my family in the 70's.

The UAW will succeed in killing themselves and the US auto industry as we know it today. The union has created a class of workers which could be compared to a fat sow pig, they consume a lot, do as little as possible and expect to be taken care of even after their limited usefulness has ended. It's a shame that the greed and ignorance of the union has allowed or better yet, enabled this kind of thing to happen.

Unions have run their course.

Unions are good in the beginning when they share skills & keep standards high. Then they get complacent, flex their muscles and demand more & more from their employers while delivering less.

The car union reps on live now complaining, specifically about Toyota firning 2 employees for what the US unions call some trumped up charge. Get ready for more "evil Jap" car makers.

It's the 70's all over again.

They don't need them

Toyota USA pays about $64/hr in compensation

GM pays about $70

Those other numbers people spit out are

Japan: Average Salary per hour SANS other Compensation

US: Average wage per hour INCLUDING other comps.

They leave out the healthcare, 401K and stuff like that for the Japanese companies - look it up it's intentionally skewed.

I don't like unions for 1 reason - there are no incentive-based raises. This is the only real problem with them - otherwise they are simply like a tax.

It's not making that much difference right now

The bigger question is, when Japanese companies have access to Japanese banks that are in much better shape than US banks and the US automakers CANNOT access those same banks, what can we do about it?

EDIT: Anyone that says US cars aren't built as well as imports is spewing decade-old data. If you havent owned or driven one in the past 5 years you are being a media lemming

I heard a stat..but forgive me if the details are not exactly right but the premise is important. General Motors sold 3.7 million cars and lost billions of dollars. Toyota sold 3.7 million cars and made money.

The Auto Industry in the South, the home of Toyota, Honda and Subaru is doing quite well and the workers are living well too.

Of course these companies do not pay laid off workers in closed plants full salary because the union contract mandates it.

Unions are only half the problem with the domestic auto industry. The management of all three are horrible. Stuck in the past with worn out ideas and a management level bureaucracy that would make Washington DC proud. Maybe Toyota, Honda and Nissan should but GM, Ford and Chrysler. IT may happen if they declare Bankruptcy.

EDIT: Compared by reliability, value, resale, maintenance and safety: Imports DO beat domestics.

you don,t want the unions to go under.if they do you are going to be working for $5.00 an hour.it is not the unions fault for what is happening. the Rep. have been trying to get rid of the unions.for years.i,m a union retire.That is like getting rid of ss.the company matches the worker dollor for dollar.the us gov. does not put one red penny in ss. they take out.If they would pay ss.back we would have plenty of money.

Unions do provide valuable services, however, they also stifle growth...hmmmm toss-up

The uaw needs to be extinct

They need to get rid of them. Unions are ruining their companies and forcing employers to move the jobs overseas.

wages in those plants are pegged to what the UAW workers makes.