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American Workers too costly for Toyota to Train
CBC News ^ | July 7, 2005 | Steve Erwin

Posted on 07/07/2005 8:20:29 PM PDT by MamaDearest

Toyota to build 100,000 vehicles per year in Woodstock, Ont., starting 2008 11:03 PM EDT Jul 07

New President of Toyota Motor Corp. Katsuaki Watanabe said that the automaker plans to build a new plant in Canada. (AP/Shizuo Kambayashi) STEVE ERWIN

WOODSTOCK, Ont. (CP) - Ontario workers are well-trained.

That simple explanation was cited as a main reason why Toyota turned its back on hundreds of millions of dollars in subsidies offered from several American states in favour of building a second Ontario plant.

Industry experts say Ontarians are easier and cheaper to train - helping make it more cost-efficient to train workers when the new Woodstock plant opens in 2008, 40 kilometres away from its skilled workforce in Cambridge.

"The level of the workforce in general is so high that the training program you need for people, even for people who have not worked in a Toyota plant before, is minimal compared to what you have to go through in the southeastern United States," said Gerry Fedchun, president of the Automotive Parts Manufacturers' Association, whose members will see increased business with the new plant.

Acknowledging it was the "worst-kept secret" throughout Ontario's automotive industry, Toyota confirmed months of speculation Thursday by announcing plans to build a 1,300-worker factory in the southwestern Ontario city.

"Welcome to Woodstock - that's something I've been waiting a long time to say," Ray Tanguay, president of Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada, told hundreds gathered at a high school gymnasium.

The plant will produce the RAV-4, dubbed by some as a "mini sport-utility vehicle" that Toyota currently makes only in Japan. It plans to build 100,000 vehicles annually.

The factory will cost $800 million to build, with the federal and provincial governments kicking in $125 million of that to help cover research, training and infrastructure costs.

Several U.S. states were reportedly prepared to offer more than double that amount of subsidy. But Fedchun said much of that extra money would have been eaten away by higher training costs than are necessary for the Woodstock project.

He said Nissan and Honda have encountered difficulties getting new plants up to full production in recent years in Mississippi and Alabama due to an untrained - and often illiterate - workforce. In Alabama, trainers had to use "pictorials" to teach some illiterate workers how to use high-tech plant equipment.

"The educational level and the skill level of the people down there is so much lower than it is in Ontario," Fedchun said.

In addition to lower training costs, Canadian workers are also $4 to $5 cheaper to employ partly thanks to the taxpayer-funded health-care system in Canada, said federal Industry Minister David Emmerson.

"Most people don't think of our health-care system as being a competitive advantage," he said.

Tanguay said Toyota's decision on where to build its seventh North American plant was "not only about money."

"It's about being in the right place," he said, noting the company can rely on the expertise of experienced Cambridge workers to help get Woodstock up and running.

Premier Dalton McGuinty said the money the province and Ottawa are pledging for the project is well-spent. His government has committed $400 million, including the latest Toyota package, to the province's auto sector, which helped finance $5-billion worth of industry projects.

"I think that's a great investment that will more than pay for itself in terms of new jobs and new economic returns," McGuinty said.

The provincial funds for the auto sector were drawn from a fund set up to attract investments specifically in that industry. McGuinty said no similar industry funds are being planned for other sectors, but added the province wants to attract biotechnology companies - those working on multibillion-dollar advanced medical research.

"What we have done for auto we would like to be able to do for biotech," he said. "That's where we're lending some real focus to at the present time."

Similarly, Emmerson said Ottawa is looking to help out industries that create "clusters" of jobs around them - such as in aerospace, shipbuilding, telecommunications and forestry - where supply bases build around a large manufacturer.

© The Canadian Press, 2005


TOPICS: Canada; News/Current Events; US: Alabama
KEYWORDS: americanworkers; automakers; canuckistan; manufacturing; toocostly; toyota; workforce
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Apparently Toyota, despite huge incentives, decided to build a second Ontario plant because Canadian workers are "easier and cheaper to train". Hoping Canadians can afford to buy them too. Bet they plan to vigorously market to the Americans workers they've rejected.
1 posted on 07/07/2005 8:20:29 PM PDT by MamaDearest
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To: MamaDearest

"Bet they plan to vigorously market to the Americans workers they've rejected."

I have the feeling the workers they've rejected are not the target market for the RAV-4 lib-friendly SUV.


2 posted on 07/07/2005 8:24:25 PM PDT by nhoward14
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To: MamaDearest

Share with all your friends. Toyota's US sales just went down faster than the Japanese Imperial Ships of the WWII Pacific did.


3 posted on 07/07/2005 8:25:36 PM PDT by SandRat (Duty, Honor, Country. What else needs to be said?)
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To: SandRat

Why should we criticise Toyota for making a decision in their own business interest? Do we disagree and think are not acting in their interest? Or should our energy instead be focused on making our states more competitive and attractive for investment... Improving education, etc..


4 posted on 07/07/2005 8:27:53 PM PDT by Mount Athos
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To: All
He said Nissan and Honda have encountered difficulties getting new plants up to full production in recent years in Mississippi and Alabama due to an untrained - and often illiterate - workforce. In Alabama, trainers had to use "pictorials" to teach some illiterate workers how to use high-tech plant equipment.
It didn't take NAFTA to kill American manufacturing. "Ameruhkan skools" were more than up to that task.

Next question: Why is Asia set to run rings around America's tech sector? Because while little Johnny is flunking out of geometry in favor of being the first-string quarterback on the varsity team, the Li kid in Beijing is doing calculus with an abacus. Before long it won't be worth it for anyone to attempt to steal our technology. But we'll have a helluva NFL!

5 posted on 07/07/2005 8:33:59 PM PDT by jayhorn (when i hit the drum, you shake the booty.)
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To: MamaDearest
He said Nissan and Honda have encountered difficulties getting new plants up to full production in recent years in Mississippi and Alabama due to an untrained - and often illiterate - workforce. In Alabama, trainers had to use "pictorials" to teach some illiterate workers how to use high-tech plant equipment.

Public education... are you paying attention? No Child Left Behind is not going to fix this.

6 posted on 07/07/2005 8:34:04 PM PDT by Luke (CPO, USCG (Ret))
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To: MamaDearest
Canadian workers are also $4 to $5 cheaper to employ partly thanks to the taxpayer-funded health-care system in Canada

Training, my ass.  That's kinda' like Ted Kennedy complaining his car didn't have the proper flotation devices.

7 posted on 07/07/2005 8:34:09 PM PDT by quantim (I'm at the point now where I refer to all liberals as "insurgents.")
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To: SandRat

I was just thinking the same thing.

Call me stupid - my $$$ walks across the street.


8 posted on 07/07/2005 8:35:00 PM PDT by Dashing Dasher (I can resist everything except temptation. -- Oscar Wilde.)
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To: Mount Athos

Try an insult delivered to the south befitting of the DNC Stereotype of southerners.


9 posted on 07/07/2005 8:37:00 PM PDT by SandRat (Duty, Honor, Country. What else needs to be said?)
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To: MamaDearest

Sadly, I must agree with Toyota. There are way too many adults who cannot read or even add up the change in their pockets. I've witnessed this first-hand at some of my past jobs.


10 posted on 07/07/2005 8:37:52 PM PDT by everlast
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To: jayhorn
I concur completely with your analysis of the educational calamity brought upon America by its failure to address the core issues attendant thereto.

We are receiving our just desserts, it seems to me.
11 posted on 07/07/2005 8:41:01 PM PDT by dk/coro
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To: MamaDearest
Toyota didn't make the claim that American workers were more difficult to train. A Canadian with an alterior motive did:

"The level of the workforce in general is so high that the training program you need for people, even for people who have not worked in a Toyota plant before, is minimal compared to what you have to go through in the southeastern United States," said Gerry Fedchun, president of the Automotive Parts Manufacturers' Association, whose members will see increased business with the new plant.

This very situation was discussed ad nauseum in THIS THREAD.

12 posted on 07/07/2005 8:41:10 PM PDT by RedWhiteBlue
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To: MamaDearest
due to an untrained - and often illiterate - workforce. In Alabama, trainers had to use "pictorials" to teach some illiterate workers how to use high-tech plant equipment.

I'd bet they were more of the foreign nature than illiterates.... try hiring Americans next time instead of the cheap illegal labor.

13 posted on 07/07/2005 8:41:16 PM PDT by SouthernFreebird
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To: MamaDearest
I live near and have friends in Normal Ill. This comes as no surprise to me. The Japanese spend big money trying to sound like good ol' boy American companies, but look down their noses at us. When Mitsubishi built it's plant in Normal they received all kinds of financial incentives from the local community. Later they refused to make good on promises to "invest" in the community. According to several locals one of the reasons given was that they were not aware that their executives children would have to attend school with blacks.
14 posted on 07/07/2005 8:42:19 PM PDT by CrazyIvan (Tag line closed for remodeling.)
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To: MamaDearest
In addition to lower training costs, Canadian workers are also $4 to $5 cheaper to employ partly thanks to the taxpayer-funded health-care system in Canada, said federal Industry Minister David Emmerson.

In other words, thanks to subsidies from Canadian taxpayers. This has nothing to do with education.

15 posted on 07/07/2005 8:42:35 PM PDT by tsomer
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To: everlast
The Canadian Myth
16 posted on 07/07/2005 8:50:15 PM PDT by MamaDearest
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To: MamaDearest

you just gotta love what unions are doing to this country.

they need to open auto plants down here in Texas, we don't put up with that union nonsense down here, like they do up north.


17 posted on 07/07/2005 8:51:18 PM PDT by republican2005
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To: MamaDearest

Maybe Jesse "the shakedown pimp hustling part time reverend"
cant get at Toyota north of the border....?


18 posted on 07/07/2005 8:54:49 PM PDT by joesnuffy (Does the Red Crescent have falafel dollies?)
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To: SandRat

This has nothing to do with insulting the south or stereotypes.

The entire country needs to focus on improving our competitiveness and attractiveness to investment, state by state. That includes education, in every state.

It's not the american way to act wounded and whine when people shop elsewhere because we're not #1. The American way is to pick ourselves up and fix what is wrong to be #1 again. We have problems, they are fixable in the long term. Well they would be if we didn't have counterproductive education unions.


19 posted on 07/07/2005 8:55:34 PM PDT by Mount Athos
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To: MamaDearest

Is it Toyota's fault that government run schools refuse to educate our children?


20 posted on 07/07/2005 8:55:42 PM PDT by Straight Vermonter (John 6: 51-58)
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