Posted on 06/19/2008 12:21:24 PM PDT by Spktyr
A senior labour leader with the Canadian Auto Workers union confronted Americans buying Asian cars recently about their choices and compared Japanese car dealers to the enemy in the Second World War, according to a union summary of the trip.
Ron Carlyle, the CAW's chair representing workers at General Motors Corp.'s car plant in Oshawa, Ont., spoke at a GM union leadership meeting this past spring about a trip he took to a NASCAR event in the United States. Minutes of the meeting, dated March 20 and posted on the CAW Local 222 website, describe what Mr. Carlyle said.
"Ron spoke about NASCAR trip. He questioned Americans buying Kia, Toyota, Honda. Reminded them of 9/11. 'Would you buy from Iraqi or Afghani dealerships?' Their response was 'No!' So Ron asked 'Why do you buy from Japanese dealers? - What about Pearl Harbour?'"
Mr. Carlyle was one of the CAW leaders who recently travelled to GM's headquarters in Detroit to attempt to convince the company's senior executives to reverse a decision to shut down the Oshawa truck plant next year. The union has so far failed in attempts to keep the factory open.
Yeah. Right. Sure.
All the while ignoring the fact that most "Japanese" vehicles in the US market... are made in the US. Or Canada.
Since we're dredging up ancient history, we should also avoid buying cars made in Canada (War of 1812), Mexico (Mexican-American War), Germany (WW1 and 2), Britain (War of Independence) and depending on where in the US we live, the North or the South (Civil War), right?
Idiots. The UAW and CAW can't die fast enough.
The UAW is opposed to drilling at ANWR. They are too dumb to deserve a moment of my attention.
My Hyundai was built in Alabama. My uncle's Ford was built in Canada.
“Union getting a bit desperate here? No “buy our product because it is superior,” no “buy our product because it is cheaper,” just “buy our product because it is not Japanese.”
Yeah. Right. Sure.
All the while ignoring the fact that most “Japanese” vehicles in the US market... are made in the US. Or Canada.
Since we’re dredging up ancient history, we should also avoid buying cars made in Canada (War of 1812), Mexico (Mexican-American War), Germany (WW1 and 2), Britain (War of Independence) and depending on where in the US we live, the North or the South (Civil War), right?
Idiots. The UAW and CAW can’t die fast enough.”
Not much to add after that assessment.
So, are German manufactered- GM owned Opels okay or not?
Speaking of history, I doubt this union guy sat through the lecture covering the protectionism and breakdown of international trade that came right before WW2
You pretty much said everything that needed to be said.
The reason why he wants Americans to buy American cars is that Ron Carlyle is a member of the CAW. The Japanese Cars (and the rest of them) are made in NON UNION FACTORIES.
I love my Buick, and I do buy American when I can, but if I buy an American car - I’ll buy a PANOZ (A non union American car builder), other then that I’ll buy what I want.
Are you Chinese? ;-)
My Camry’s made in Kentucky.
Someone should tell this knucklehead that the Pontiac Vibe is a Toyota Matrix, both built in Fremont, CA by UAW workers.
I think Hiroshima and Nagasaki were enough to pay them back for Pearl Harbor, and more importantly, Japan has been one of the closest allies American and Canada have had for 60 years now, with no sign of any erosion in that relationship. I haven’t been to Japan, but I’m willing to bet it’s really hard to find a Japanese stadium where the audience boos during “The Star Spangled Banner.”
BTW, one thing I liked about the Canadian sitcom “Corner Gas” (which I highly recommend because it’s hilarious, well-written and clean) was the episode where an American visits the small town where it takes place, and the town idiot immediately assumes the guy knows nothing about Canada, looks down on Canada and would basically have ugly American syndrome. Turns out the guy knew more about Canada than half the people in the town and was very pleasant.
I would rather buy a 100% made in Japan car than support a union.
Wow! Jimmy Carter’s second term right around the corner and now this.
We really are going back to the 70’s!
Groovy!
I will NEVER buy a vehicle made with US Union labor. Never.
They support communists and pols that hinder my success and seek to take away my liberty. Nuff said.
My sister retired and had to supplement her income so she got a job on the line at a GM plant.
She owns a Hyundai and the second day there someone not only left a really nasty note on her car they keyed it too.
She says that most of the union people on the line there are quite brain dead and that most of them spend their time trying to not work.
No wonder the American built cars are still inferior to the overseas vehicles.
Correction: the Toyota *Corolla* and the Pontiac Vibe (a hatchback Toyota, the Matrix with Pontiac badging) are built in Fremont, California by the UAW.
I’ll stop buying Japanese cars when we stop buying Arabian Oil.
The other day I was behind a Ford truck that had a bumper sticker noting that the truck was built in America, by Americans and driven by an American. And I thought, “Yeah, and the guy driving the Toyota on the other side of the intersection can say the same thing. So what?”
Hey Union dude.
Build a car that gets good gas mileage and doesn’t fall apart in 3 years and cost less then 25 thousand dollars.
Then we can talk.
There was a National Lampoon cover which showed an oriental guy in a suit and hardhat watching as a crane was replacing the first “R” in Chrysler with an “L”. I still have it.
Uh-oh...write up the hate crime charges on this guy.
Yep, and the people blocking that are Dems who love to run on union money.
In other news, pastors call on their flocks to boycott Italian Olive Oil, “Christ was murdered by Romans!”
Well, I would have bought my last six cars from GM, except I didn’t feel like shelling out an additional $1,200 to cover the cost of legacy union benefits.
Oh, and as far as I know, GM didn’t make an All-wheel drive car (or even a front-wheel drive car) which is a problem for those of us who rack up miles in New England during the winter.
Oh yeah, then there was also the problem of lower trade-in value.
Plus they weren’t as nice.
I know American cars are supposed to have gotten much better, so maybe I’ll revisit my preference for Japanese cars when I’m next in the market for a new one.
But one way or the other, I’m not buying any American cars unless they are measurably a better deal.
I had an Opel many years ago. My late husband’s brother had owned it and had put a racing engine in it. You should have seen the looks on other drivers’ faces as I drove my merry way. We bought it from him for our older daughter and she loved driving it, too.
My current 2000 Chevy truck is a real disappointment. I won’t be buying another, neither a Ford or a Dodge either.
Leftists are not subject to hate crime laws.
But this is true liberalism. Divide people up into classes and get them to attack or distrust each other.
I'm going to blow chow.
My father was a Marine Corps veteran of Okinawa. The Japanese did their level best to kill him. Yet, when it came time to buy his son (me) a car he picked a Toyota Corolla (made in Japan, BTW). I figure that if he could get over Pearl Harbor and it’s aftermath so can I.
North American market Civics are made in East Liberty, Ohio and Alliston, Ontario, Canada. The ones to have are the ones made in Ohio.
Americans can make excellent cars and trucks once freed from the tyranny of the UAW and the incompetence of Detroit management.
Japan is our friend....UAW is our enemy.
My how things change. Nips trump Rats
“The other day I was behind a Ford truck that had a bumper sticker noting that the truck was built in America, by Americans and driven by an American. And I thought, “Yeah, and the guy driving the Toyota on the other side of the intersection can say the same thing. So what?”
Indeed. I traded my Chevy Z71 for a new Toyota Tacoma - Which was built in California.
One of our best and most loyal friends for over half a century. Second only to the British and Australians. Should we refuse to buy British products because of the Stamp Act, or the occupation of New York?
Some people think the Ford Fusion built in Mexico is an American car while a Honda Accord built in Ohio is foreign.
My Honda Pilot was built in Lincoln, Alabama.
The American manufacturers lost my support when they started importing cars from Mexico.
I’ll go with the best made at a reasonable price, thanks.
My last car was a 2002 Chevy Malibu. I was trying to keep my cars American...but the Malibu gave me so much trouble that I finally gave up and bought a 2007 Toyota RAV4. What a relief not to have it break down every time I pull out of the driveway!
“... the tyranny of the UAW and the incompetence of Detroit management.”
Mostly the latter. The NUMMI plant in Fremont, CA mentioned in earlier posts reveals that a facility organized and run on Toyota’s manufacturing and management principles can succeed even with UAW workers.
Sorta like my brother-in-law trying to get me to buy a Dodge like his ( built in Meh-he-ko). I ended up getting a nice Nissan Xterra built in Tennessee instead.
My awful mid-90's Dodge Grand Caravan, which I bought during my soccer dad phase, drove me away from American cars as well. Just a nightmarish ownership experience. I might give the new Cadillac CTS a look after a couple more years of reliability data, though.
It also helps that Toyota has a non-union plant just across the border in Mexico that makes more or less the same models. Toyota can and does use this plant as a threat and benchmark against the union drones at NUMMI - basically “work to specs or we close the plant and move everything to Mexico - and we can do that in two days.”
Agreed. I've said on other threads that the problems the not-so-Big Three are facing are due totally to poor management that goes back many decades. The diseased nature of the UAW is a consequence of diseased management, IMHO.
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