Friday, June 15, 2007

Workers’ Rights Board hears concerns of Toyota workers; Panel recommends limits on use of temporary workers

Georgetown, KY. – A panel of Kentucky community leaders heard testimony from workers at Toyota Corp.’s Georgetown, Ky., facility on Sunday, June 10, and recommended that the company set a 90-day limit on the use of low-paid temporary workers.

Before a packed room including more than 200 current and former Toyota workers and supporters, members of the Kentucky Workers’ Rights Board recognized the jobs and investment already provided by Toyota in Kentucky and called for new efforts to improve working conditions and enhance opportunities for Toyota workers.

A major concern is the company’s widespread use of so-called “temporary” workers, who work for months and even years in hopes of winning full-time employment. They earn $13 an hour – less than half the wages earned by full-time Toyota manufacturing workers.

“We are trying to make Toyota better, and have a better partner in the community,” said Rev. John Rausch of the Catholic Diocese in Lexington.

Rausch and other members of the Kentucky Workers’ Rights Board – which includes elected officials, ministers, and other community leaders -- listened to concerns of Toyota workers regarding the use of temporary workers, on-the-job injuries, inadequate restrooms for female employees, and unjustified firings of veteran employees.

“This does not mean we’re anti-management,” said State Rep. Reginald Meeks (D-Louisville) one of the panelists. “We simply want the company to recognize these issues and to address those issues in an appropriate and effective manner.”

Cornelia James, an 18-year veteran at the plant, told the Workers’ Rights Board that the company does not treat injured workers properly, with hundreds being forced to leave the company. Toyota also does not provide adequate facilities for female employees, James said.

“There are only a few stalls in the women’s room, and you can only use the restroom during your 15-minute breaks.”

The panel also heard from Manuel Eades, a worker recently fired by Toyota after a management presentation that detailed the company’s plans to reduce labor costs by $300 million over the next four years circulated throughout the plant.

Eades said hundreds of people had access to the presentation, which was on a shared computer drive. “I only had access to what the IT department allowed,” said Eades. “There was nothing that indicated the presentation was confidential.”

Despite a peer review committee finding that Eades should not be fired, the company has refused to reinstate him.

The controversial presentation, authored by Seiichi Sudo, president of Toyota Engineering & Manufacturing in North America, suggested that the company “benchmark” wages to 150 percent of the average manufacturing wage in communities where it does business. In Kentucky, where the average manufacturing wage is $16 an hour, the 150 percent level would be $24 an hour – $3 to $6 an hour less than Toyota workers now earn.

The company has denied any immediate plan to cut workers’ wages.

Also testifying before the Workers’ Rights Board was Sean Naylor, representing Kentuckians for the Commonwealth, a 4,000-member citizens’ organization. Naylor recalled the $420 million worth of incentives that Kentucky citizens provided to Toyota to persuade the company to locate its plant in Georgetown.

“The state of Kentucky provided these incentives with the belief that Toyota would provide good jobs that would improve the quality of life for all Kentuckians,” said Naylor. “We looked to Toyota to improve the standards of local manufacturing wages, not to water down its wages and benefits to those of local manufacturing companies.”

After hearing testimony from Toyota workers and concerned citizens, members of the Workers’ Rights Board made a series of recommendations, including a time limit on the use of temporary workers, reinstating fired employees, creating a health and safety committee with elected worker representatives, a full return to work for injured workers, and adequate restroom facilities for female employees.

Steve St. Angelo, president of Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Kentucky, Inc., was invited to the hearing but did not attend. A company spokesperson said that Toyota would review the panel’s recommendations.

In addition to Rev. Rausch and Representative Meeks, other Workers’ Right Board panelists included Rev. Cynthia Cain, pastor of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Lexington; State Rep. Jim Glenn of Owensboro; Tony Oppegard, an attorney specializing in employment law; and John Fisher of the Kentucky Human Rights Commission.

Support Toyota workers' drive for respect and dignity on the job.