Automotive News [sub] reports that Mitsubishi will have to give UAW workers at its Normal, Ill plant a $1.60/hr raise because it doesn’t yet know what vehicle or platform it plans to build there in the future. Mitsubishi’s 2008 contract with the UAW required the disclosure, but the Japanese automaker requested an extension which the union membership proceeded to vote down. Because the extension failed, Mitsubishi is required by the terms of its contract to raise hourly pay to $25.60/hr. The plant in question currently builds Mitsubishi Eclipse, Endeavor and Galant models, which have collectively sold 11,215 units through August of this year. And thanks to the combination of low demand for Normal-built products, and the union’s failure to extend the decision period, it seems as though Mitsubishi may just walk away from the plant.
In a statement, the automaker said
We are disappointed with the results of this vote. Mitsubishi Motors Corp. remains concerned at the slow pace of economic recovery in the United States and current sales projections for the U.S. market. As a result, MMC is unable to announce a new model for assembly at MMNA at this juncture. In response to today’s unfortunate development, MMNA is exploring its options.
It sounds like it’s not going to be a very happy Labor Day this year, for Local 2488. But hey, at least they’ll get an extra $1.60 per hour until Mitsu decides to shut the place down. Still, with Mitsubishi averaging about 4,500 sales per month in the US and falling (for comparison, that’s less volume than the Infiniti G37, the Dodge Avenger or the Volvo Brand), you’d think the union might give their employers time to come up with a new product. Or, as we so often find ourselves saying around here, not.
Is there never an end to their parasitic stupidities? They are more virus than human.
I suppose if you had your way,we could just take all the UAW members out and shoot them. Or perhaps a proper de-lousing.
@mikey: There is no way to de-louse a UAW member.
And bullets would just be wasting money; even something as cheap as .22lr.
A more appropriate and cost-effective penalty would be to have them infected with parasites.
Ticks, leeches, tapeworm, liver-flukes, schistosomiasis, malaria mosquitoes, ringworm, trichinosis, giardia, etc. -and then just leave them that way.
A virus or two as just a wafer-thin after-dinner mint, might be nice too.
I’m no fan of the UAW, but it’s not their fault that Mitsubishi’s vehicles aren’t appealing to most Americans and don’t sell. Maybe some other company will buy the plant after they close it.
Makes perfect sense to me to get the extra $1.60 an hour for the plant’s last couple of months in business.
Mitsubishi is as dead as a doornail in the U.S., and there’s nothing either the UAW or the company can do to fix it–including cutting wages to $1.60 an hour.
I have to agree on this one. Mitsubishi’s immediate problem is not the UAW, it’s their products.
On the other hand, the UAW can declare victory right up until the plant closes. And then maybe Hyundai will buy it to produce Sonatas, and rehire the same workers at $18/hour, but with some hope of actually keeping their jobs.
But more importantly: Are Mistubishi’s workers allowed to drive and park an Eclipse in the parking lot? Or must they bring their Ford?
Hyundai (assuming they are smart) would not touch a UAW infested plant with a 10 foot pole. All one needs is that cut in the skin to allow in the virus to infect the rest of the body and kill the host (will the virus inside lives well beyond their means and does more w/ little education). Nope…shut it down and close it. Knock it down and put a gold and gem studded statute celebrating the UAW’s victory.
May I recommend the UAW to purchase? It would seem they want to run it any how.
Who would want this plant? A labor-entrenched plant in Illinois is not that appealing to any automakers, especially in a US auto-market and economy that is still tanking.
Also, most transplant automakers are primarily located in the South, this plant isn’t that close to their supply chains.
An extra $1.60 an hour really isn’t worth the negatives that come with it. Yes, its not the UAW’s fault Mitsubishi is behind, but no flexibility in labor negotiations makes the decision to leave this factory that much more easier.
It should be noted that Mitsubishi just purchased a factory from Hindustan Motors in India last month, their eyes are on Asia. The US automarket is a contracting one, and not worth the investment especially with the dollar falling to new lows.
Furthermore, this Illinois plant isn’t making light-trucks, currently the US is heavily protectionist with their light-truck market with a massive 25% tariff. For cars, which has a smaller tariff, it might be more wise for Mitsubishi to just build them from Japan, Thailand, or their other developing world factories and import them into the US. They just don’t have the volume to justify a dedicated US factory, especially with the UAW not making it easier for them.
I love this *fantasy* that some other company will come and magically re-open a manufacturing plant after it has been closed by another company. This was the anti-bailout line of thinking immediately following the bailouts. But no one knew how long it would take for this process to happen.
Whether or not unionization is an issue in the midwest, there is no logical reason to re-open a plant that has been closed here. Due to the fact there is a huge amount of overcapacity in North America, not to mention worldwide.
With the North American market matured and shrinking, why commit precious resources to it when you can leverage currency inequalities and offshore manufacturing to fill in the gaps in a market where (in Mistu’s case) their presence is almost nil.
This way, Mitsu gets to blame the union, exit from un-profitable (and now un-public relations friendly) North American assembly and concentrate on emerging markets, where the real money is.
What a deal!
Let’s see
Mitsubishi negotiated a contract.
One part of that contract is now inconvenient to them.
They want to break the contract.
Well I guess y’all won’t complain when similar stuff happens to you.
These contracts are negotiated by adults, some might even call them professionals, on both sides.
“These contracts are negotiated by adults”
…and they can be renegotiated by adults.
Mitsubishi was not trying to “break” anything.
With the UAW’s ability to strike and effectively render the plant the worlds largest paperweight – it’s like coercion / blackmail in the negotiation process. I don’t blame Mitsubishi for walking away and letting it close down. UAW has long outlived its purported purpose and is now a very effective bar to success.
They can’t “just strike” without there being a violation of the collective agreement and a vote to strike. Or rather, they can, but then they’d be in violation of the CBA, and thusly liable.
You don’t see wildcat strikes very often for this reason.
This isn’t a “gun to the head” of the company: first, the bargaining committee needs to fail to come to an agreement and then the rank-and-file need to fail to vote to strike. What people fail to realize is that the right to strike is one step of the negotiation process, just as management’s right to close the shop down, which is just as coercive as the threat to strike.
In this case, the local knows that the Normal plant isn’t going to be viable, buck-sixty or not. Project America is a failure, the plant isn’t flexible, and Mitsu is a dying company with no plans to improve in a horribly competitive market. And a buck sixty now at least allows the rank and file to save a little before the plant is closed.
Adults also recognize that sometimes renegotiating a contract is in the best interests of both parties. When you’re lacking for work is not the best time to be an ungrateful employee. Sounds to me like the union local members just screamed like a little kid “Gimme mine now!”
Mitsubishi is purposely designing subpar vehicles just to screw with the UAW! It worked for the Big 3.
Unfortunately, unlike the Big 3, Mitsubishi isn’t “too big to fail” in the end-game.
Unions are like communism… directly correlated with long-term failure. Prove me wrong, using the car business as an example.
You can prove yourself wrong if you just look a bit beyond the U.S. Major car companies in Germany, Japan and Korea are all unionized.
The problem of antagonistic workplace relationships cannot be blamed on unions alone – it runs deeper.
Easy. >90% of USA car companies have failed or have been taken over. Therefore the state of unionism of those companies is irrelevant.
Japan, Germany and Korea all have vibrant automotive industries. All are unionized. In fact, Germany continues to have a strong manufacturing base across a wide range of industries, nearly all of which uses union labor. In fact, labor unions have more power in Germany thanks to board seats. Korea’s unions are notoriously agressive. Japan’s unions, on the other hand, were tamed and made part of the company system decades ago.
Unions have certainly made their share of mistakes, by America’s MBAs have a lot more to be ashamed of than the unions do.
@ John Horner
In fact, labor unions have more power in Germany thanks to board seats.
I think pay and work rules are more realistic in Germany. Also, German labor law and education practices produce the a much better skilled blue collar labor force. Maybe the best in the world.
Unions have certainly made their share of mistakes, by America’s MBAs have a lot more to be ashamed of than the unions do.
I think it’s more 50/50, but that’s reasonable…
Uh… @ihatetrees Education in Germany?
The students are able to STRIKE and close down the schools. Over frivolous things. We had an exchange student from Germany when I was in H.S. (graduated 1999). So yeah, you’re right. /sarcasm
The only thing worse than having a Union is not having one.
“Japan, Germany and Korea all have vibrant automotive industries. All are unionized.”
And all have had protected markets in the past thanks to their governments. The USA, not so much. It’s easy to be vibrant when you have no (outside) competition.
Let’s not forget, the USA does have protectionist practices in place as well: imports are tariff’d up the ying-yang so their prices remain on par with US made vehicles (Big3 here).
As for the Normal plant, since Chrysler walked away from their joint venture years ago, Mitsubishi really hasn’t had a desire to keep the plant open. There was even talk when the split happened that the plant may be closing. The veto by the UAW members not to allow Mitsubishi time to come up with a better plan is just the excuse Mitsu needed to shutter the plant for good.
I suspect that they will close the plant down ASAP if that’s the case. It wouldn’t be a surprise if tomorrow is their last day, and the 3-day weekend becomes a long extended layoff with the plant never re-opening.
As for those people who think that some other company will come in and re-open, get your head out of your ass. I live here in IL and the job market sucks (10%+ unemployment and rising since beginning of the year) and the State government is cash-strapped. I doubt the Governor would be willing to give any tax incentives to anyone that may want to re-open Normal and with all the costs involved in re-tooling, I don’t see ANY company willing to spend that kind of money on new machining costs to ramp up production to what that plant USED to do when it was partially owned by Chrysler.
Normal is done, but it wasn’t just the UAW this time, although they do certainly play a part in the role of this plant closing down.
Yup, If Mitsubishi negotiated a such a bad deal for themselves; how is this a good deal for the UAW.? The UAW have negotiated their members into long term unemployment.
This happened at a Uniroyal tire plant in Chicopee, Massachusetts back in the late 1970s / early 80s. Uniroyal wanted labor concessions from the union to help raise funds to modernize the Chicopee plant to produce radial tires, replacing the old bias ply tire technology (remember them). Well the union said no. So Uniroyal bit the bullet and built a brand new radial tire plant elsewhere. Once bias ply tires no longer sold, they closed the plant. Those jobs never came back. If they union had said yes, those workers would have all still had jobs in a modern state of the art tire plant.
In Japan and many other Asian cultures, this would never happen. If you negotiate such a great deal for yourself that it harms your contract “partner”, you are the one who loses face for taking advantage of that contract “partner”. Saving face is a big deal for them. Imagine how we look to most Asians.
Japanese business agreements evolve. They are updated on an as needed basis as time and circumstances change. This is not to say that all partners benefit equally, they don’t. The stronger position will do better. But no one loses.
In Japan. this contract would be absolutely changed so every one benefits. Win-Win there, instead of the Win-Lose culture that has taken over the USA.
The USA has 281 Lawyers for every 100,000 people.
Japan has 11 Lawyers for every 100,000 people.
See the problem here ???
UAW is a parasite. They will leech and suck blood and unlike the US automakers, Mitsu doesn’t have the luxury of taking taxpayer billions for a bailout to pay their CEO’s.
So, the UAW has functionally no say in the products that are built and it’s management who continued to rake in millions despite years of nonperformance and poor leadership.
And the UAW is the parasite? Ummm…
I’ve never belonged to a union, but I don’t get all the union bashing. I like having weekends off, health insurance, overtime pay, sick leave, etc. Anyone who believes corporations granted those bennies out of the goodness of their hearts is an idiot. It’s no coincidence that with the decline of union membership over the last couple decades we’ve seen stagnant wages and a decline in benefits. Yes, unions can be a PIA, but without them we’re all working in third-world sweat shops…or Walmart. No thanks.
Seems like the UAW is being foolish in this case, but PatrickJ has a point. If Mitsubishi’s going down anyway, the rank and file might as well cash out as much as they can. Executives get their golden parachutes, a buck sixty an hour doesn’t sound too outrageous in comparison.
Amen.
Now, I’m the first to smack corporations for nearly anything, but union membership statistics aren’t the reason that median wage has been stuck, at best, in neutral or why the middle class is being gradually hollowed out.
It’s a symptom, not a cause.
Your point about benefits, though, is a good one. In America, and to a lesser degree in Canada, the upper classes have done a wonderful job of directing the ire of non-unionized workers against their unionized counterparts and not at the skyrocketing benefits and compensation of upper management.
It really is an amazing piece of PR work, and it’s been swallowed hook, line and sinker: don’t mind the C-suite nitwits who are pulling orders of magnitude more than the front-liners on both sides, the problem is the unionized buy making 5-10% more in bad times.
The funny, or horrible thing, is how the unions themselves have bought into this: taking action against non-unionized organizations instead of the people pulling the strings.
“Yes, unions can be a PIA, but without them we’re all working in third-world sweat shops…or Walmart.”
Third-world sweat shops cannot exist in the US due to labor laws, OSHA, and other entities that protect all workers – white or blue collar.
Similarly, Wal-Mart’s employees are covered by the same regulations, some of which have been violated, litigated, and resolved accordingly. And if you’re a Wal-Mart employee who’s just scratching by, a union that artificially increases your wages will help you, but limits the number of people WM will hire. Unions are cannibalistic that way, and so is the notion of a minimum wage.
Yes, @gslippy, I guess there is no underground economy in your America. No slave wages for ‘illegals’ picking fruit for less than poverty earnings. No secret illegal sweatshops anywhere in America. No children kidnapped, abused, and sold into pedophilic sexual slavery.
Everything is double rainbows and a new puppy every day with no worry about spaying or neutering because there is no such thing as animal overpopulation.
SexCpotatoes, not sure what your point is. What you describe can be seen today and we have Unions today. They are no guarantee of helping the bottom rung. The main purpose of the Union is collective bargaining. The laws mentioned above apply to everyone. The Union’s job is to give individuals a stronger voice. When the unions first came into being it was more to drive creation of such laws to insure workers rights. Today there main task should be to uphold workers rights, not creating high paying jobs for high school drop outs. My point being everything is about balance. Workers deserve reasonable wages for what they do but they need to do their part or otherwise it is just a form a Communism that does not encourage an individuals drive to perform at his/her best. The Union should be a collection of individual voices striving to drive the greater good without stifling individuality as apposed to a single collective mind with no individual thought (in sci-fi speak, a hive mentality like the Borg).
Sorry, I’ve got to side with the UAW on this one. Re-read this from Mitsubishi’s press release:
Mitsubishi Motors Corp. remains concerned at the slow pace of economic recovery in the United States and current sales projections for the U.S. market. As a result, MMC is unable to announce a new model for assembly at MMNA at this juncture.
Translation: We’ve got nothing to build that will sell in North America. And Mitsubishi is “disappointed” with the UAW? Well boo hoo hoo. The guys and gals in the plant know damned well they’re going to be unemployed soon anyway. They might as well have a little extra to put away while they can.
Like giving a cigarette to a condemned man.
These cretins are already making over $25 an hour, for unskilled labor. How much extra do they need to “put away for a rainy day” before it just becomes ridiculous?
Good riddance to UAW rubbish. Close the plant, and force these leeches to take McJobs. Screw ’em if they weren’t wise enough to save when times were good!
“In America, and to a lesser degree in Canada, the upper classes have done a wonderful job of directing the ire of non-unionized workers against their unionized counterparts and not at the skyrocketing benefits and compensation of upper management.”
It certainly irritates me to watch incompetent senior management pull in millions of dollars while the companies they are responsible for go down the tubes. However, the fact is that there are too few of them to make a significant difference in the income of the rest of us. The combined net worth of Bill Gates and Warren Buffet (who have actually earned what they have) is less than $100 billion. That won’t cover the US federal deficit for one month. Capping executive income might make the rest of us feel better but it won’t make us noticeably richer. It might actually make things worse if it discourages really talented managers from taking top positions.
At the end of World War Two, the United States and Canada had no real industrial competitors. The rest of the developed world had been devastated by the war and the third world countries never had anything. Since then, the ruined countries have been rebuilt better than they were and the third world is developing rapidly. Industrial capability in the third world is advancing faster than their standard of living. This means they can now make products good enough to compete with ours and at a lower cost. That’s why you see so much Chinese stuff at Walmart. It may take another generation or two but their labor costs will eventually rise to match ours and their cost advantage will disappear.
A lot of Europe’s and Japan’s manufacturing infrastructure is superior to the US because they had to rebuild after the war. We’ve relied on tariffs on things like imported steel to support domestic industry but the result has been that we have failed to modernize and are falling further and further behind.
The US still has the best engineers in the world, but the problem is that when we set up factories abroad, our technological advances end up being copied. Chinese industry wouldn’t be nearly as advanced as it is had China not stolen every little trade secret they could get their hands on, and we’ve made it far to easy for them to do it.
We have Intel, Microsoft, Apple, Motorola, nVidia, ATI (well, Canadian by way of Texas now, but close enough) but software is ridiculously easy to pirate and we build our chips in Taiwan where the Chinese simple stroll in and copy designs.
About the only thing we are good at protecting are military secrets and hardware, and we are still generations beyond the rest of the world when it comes to the tools of war, but due to global political concerns the only places we can get away with using them are desert countries that are completely irrelevant save for oil under the sand.
How is it that Germany and Japan are able to manage successful industrial companies while only paying the bosses 30-50x more than the workers make while in the US that multiplier has skyrocketed in the hundreds?
Also, it is a myth that the take of top executives is immaterial to their companies. Check out the numbers.
“Third-world sweat shops cannot exist in the US due to labor laws”
And those labor laws were all introduced by politicians taking buckets full of union campaign contributions. The fact that laws exist in the first place is a sign that a number of employers don’t have their employees best interests in mind.
When the political landscape inevitably swings back to those taking contributions from big business, we will again see an erosion of labor and benefit laws.
“When the political landscape inevitably swings back to those taking contributions from big business, we will again see an erosion of labor and benefit laws.”
I doubt it. Here’s why:
1. The litigious nature of US culture won’t allow it.
2. Information is widely available today, unlike the 19th century.
3. Job mobility. Nobody should feel ‘stuck’ in a lowly or unsafe job today (except during times of high unemployment). There are ways to climb up.
4. Competition. Employers typically provide wages and benefits as lures for new hires, just as Henry Ford did a hundred years ago. Feeding your employees dog food doesn’t increase retention.
Uh – when did the politicians stop being paid by big business? Have I missed somethiing? In fact – I don’t have the #s in front of me but I believe corporate control of politicians has just been made stronger, by way of a little decision by the supreme court…
Look what happened to the health care bill – it’s there but virtually in name only.
The US was built (not designed, but built) on the premise that he who gets the most the fastest not only wins, but rules.
I don’t see that changing – unions made it possible to build up the country. Without them the big industrial corporations (despite themselves) could never have attained the sizes they did when they did or ever. The labor force wouldn’t have survived (physically) to do it.
But now the $$$ have moved into the world of money invention (derivatives, etc), healthcare, and intellectual property. Industry has moved elsewhere…that’s the natural flow of things. As a nation we have to change or stagnate and decline…sadly that brings the workers down with it.
All that notwithstanding – I’m with the UAW on this one. The whole concept of locally – nationally controlled production is totally a thing of the last century, so what’s wrong with trying to grab what’s left out there while it still exists? It won’t be here for long.
Groan. It’s hard to call who the dumber party here is. Was it the employer, for agreeing to such a stupid clause in the first place?
Or the union for invoking it when Mitsu is so clearly on the cusp in North America? Place your bets for the Darwin award on this one.
After 3 decades in a unionized environment, half in and half out of the bargaining unit, I’ve learned a few things. Such as:
1. If it’s in the contract, you have to do it. Applies to both sides. So be careful what you sign. The law of unintended consequences is a bitch.
2. If management doesn’t press every advantage, they will get fired. If union executive doesn’t press every advantage, they will be defeated in the next election. So be careful what you sign. The law of unintended consequences is a bitch.
3. The law of unintended.. well, you get the point.
This smacks of unintended consequences. I hope it ends well for everyone, but I have seen these “throwaway” clause in collective agreements end in tears all around before. No one wins when a plant gets shuttered. My .02.
All in all, it doesn’t matter. Mitsubishi is toast in the US due primarily to epic failures by management. So, the UAW is sticking to the letter of their contract whilst waiting for Mitsubishi to fold the tent. Not really stupid, is it?
The problem isn’t unions per se, but rather the adversarial relationship required by federal law. It reflects a completely different economy and labor market, ultimately having a negative impact on both workers and companies. There are a huge number of rules and practices which do little to help workers but a lot to increase the cost of employing them.
You think the Federal government is the problem? But without the unions then the mandates that the Feds put on the relationship between unions and industry would be irrelevant. If the Feds were the problem then the industry would be dying everywhere in the USA. Let’s ask how things are going at the shiny new Kia factory in West Point, Georgia or perhaps you could call VW of North America- formerly of Michigan, now of Virginia and ask them if the Federal government is the problem. I bet they would say no in Alabama- where zero cars were made 15 years ago, and now makes more than 2/3 of a million units per year. If you fancy a stroll on the River Walk then go ask about the problems with the Federal government at the Toyota plant in San Antonio. If that’s too far you could just stop in at the new Toyota plant in Blue Springs, Mississippi- and on and on and on. The same Federal government exists in all of those places, but without the unions there doesn’t appear to be a problem. I understand that you were referencing the way the Feds influence the interaction between the unions and the manufacturers- but I have to say, it IS the unions that are the problem and until the rust belt jettisons them, a resurgence in auto manufacturing in that region is very unlikely.
I have had many discussions lately about unions with some of my anti union friends, and here is one thing we agree on, who’s the bigger idiot the union trying to get the best deal for their members or the idiot in management who signs off on it? There are a number of unions in other industries that never got what the UAW got because the other side was very smart in their handling of the union. As to this specific case, your working for an employer who is struggling and may well close at any time you see an opportunity to grab a little extra pay before the door closes, would you take it? I would.
I am a firm believer in Unions, but the UAW has outlived it’s usefulness.
We need Unions more than ever as the balance of power keep leaning toward Management. We are already seeing worker abuses here in America. Unions will eventually develop in the emerging countries too, as the employers continue their abuse of workers.
Think about a Chinese factory worker and their working conditions. We could easily have that here is we let our laws keep being changed in favor of profits and share price. We must vote against greed.
Those working conditions in China you mention are a big step up over the way they were before they embraced more capitalism. It use to be slave labor work camp conditions.
Note all the worker unrest currently in China is only at foreign owned plants that actually are better than the part Chinese government owned ones. The Chinese people are still afraid to strike any place the government is involved. Low wages is better then prison.
Mitsu will close their U.S. plant within five years…
I agree the UAW may have outlived its usefulness but there are too many employers that do as little as possible for their employees. How long would an employee that did as little as possible last?
That’s the problem with the UAW, they used to be a good for all, now they don’t seem to consider that Companies they are involved with, sometime need to work together for the common good of all, both Companies and its employees!
Same can be said for the CAW too, after all they where once part of the UAW, till they decided to become a Canadian Union entirely, unfortunate that they carried on some of the UAW policy’s with respect to both there members and the Company’s they represent, most up to date UNIONS in the World are thinking of the good for all, not self centered like the UAW-CAW imho!
That’s pretty much what I’ve been thinking. The UAW should put it’s money where it’s mouth is, and Go East. There’s plenty of workers in Asia who need their workers rights and human rights represented. Time for the UAW to learn Mandarin, Hindi, Thai, Malay and other languages.
The workers have now been given notice the clock is ticking. Save the extra money and start making plans to relocate or do something else in Normal.
Of course that won’t happen and we’ll end up taking care of all of them.
Mitsubishi and the UAW—equally irrelevant.
Mitsubishi only sold 11k of their “high” volume models in 8 months? If you figure that at least 6,000 were sold to rental car companies, and let’s say they have 150 dealers – about what Fiat wants, then the average Mitisubishi dealer has only sold about 33 new vehicles this year. That’s about one sale a week. Even if imported models bring the total up to 2 cars a week, that’s still pitiful.
As they have for the last two decades- Georgia, Mississippi, Alabama, Texas, Tennessee, and South Carolina will continue to offer the heavy goods manufacturing sector a better corporate environment, a less troublesome workforce, and a conspicuous lack of protesters in front of the factory gates. I don’t have it in for my fellow Americans in the rust belt, I wish them the very best. But sometimes it feels like they have it in for themselves.
The UAW enjoyed its greatest success when the domestics had 90+ percent of the market and the UAW controlled the labor used to build those vehicles. It no longer has a monopoly on that labor – just as GM, Ford, Chrysler and AMC no longer sell 90+ percent of all new vehicles. The union has yet to adapt to this changed marketplace. At this point, it doesn’t really offer anything to the transplant operations, or their workers.
How do the Germans, Japanese and South Koreans handle their unions? Japanese unions are more like company unions, which were banned by the Wagner Act in this country back in the 1930s. The Germans have survived by retreating to the higher-margin sectors of the market, or moving some production to other countries. Note that VW, for example, imports some of its cars – the ones that compete most directly with Honda, Toyota, Ford, etc., in the lower-margin sectors – from Mexico. The South Koreans deal with very militant unions back home, and they are moving production here as fast as possible.
Also note that Mercedes, BMW, Honda, Nissan, Toyota and Hyundai have worked very hard to keep the UAW OUT of their U.S. plants. Whatever their experiences with unions in their home countries, they sure haven’t rused to embrace the UAW in THIS country, which is far more telling.
Everyone is forgetting the salient little fact that Mitsubishi was chopped off at the ankles by Daimler-Chrysler (actually, Daimler-Benz) some years ago, when they were “partners” with the uber alles gang (and I use that last word advisedly).
Mitsubishi essentially make the mistake of thinking they were actually a part of the household, so to speak, instead of just a house-maid who could be fired.
When the Germans needed assistance with Chrysler in developing lower cost cars, they tapped the expertise at Mitsubishi (it’s not Mitsu’s fault that the ongoing divorce made the Sebring, Avenger and other j-v cars piles of crap in the Chrysler stable).
But when Mitsubishi needed assistance (financially), the Germans essentially said “nein” and yanked the rug out from under the Japanese.
Miss Mitsubishi went home crying to mom & dad after a nasty divorce from which she lost more or less everything (and yet it was demanded of her that she contractually finish “helping” Chrysler – now a competitor instead of partner – finish up their all new cars). Mitsubishi Bank and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (mom & pop) took the adult child back into their home until she can figure out where to go from here.
Unfortunately, Miss Mitsubishi-Motors has run out of potential partners.
It may well be past time to pull the plug in the United States and Canada, which may not be such a bad thing for the old girl anyway – since our economic market is collapsing by the minute.
The UAW, however, gets the booby prize for stupidity in this case (as does the local Mitsu management for signing such a moronic clause in the labor agreement).
Mitsubishi now labors under the “Studebaker syndrome” which afflicted that company from 1954 through it’s end in 1966. “It’s going to be an orphan” fears drives buyers away – and therefore, it becomes a self-fulfilling prophesy.
It should be noted that Mitsubishi had a very nice looking Galant replacement in car shows a few years back, and that this mid-sized sedan market is the “bread and butter” of the North American market. Given that Mitsu has a bought and paid for plant in the low-cost US (compared to Japan, given the Yen vs Dollar right now), I suspect that had Mitsubishi been able to tool up the new car, they surely would have done better – especially in not losing more dealers over the past few years through attrition.
Mitsubishi are now at the point past no return in North America – not enough dealers to sustain a business model, never mind a factory.
May they succeed in India (with or without Hindustan – which appears to have been a millstone so perhaps that is why they are going their own way?)
As much as I dislike Daimler for it’s actions, particularly towards Chrysler, Mitsubishi’s problems started long before it’s association with the Daimler ‘mafia’. Blaming Mitsu’s issues on Daimler is not a good argument. It may have injured them, but Mitsubishi has been for more effective at injuring itself than any interloper.
Much like the US government bailed out the big three, the Fuji Heavy Industries keiretsu has and will continue to bailout Mitsubishi. Due to massive mismanagement, their product line has become irrelevant to the US consumer, not aided at all by it’s less than stellar reliability and durability.
The Illinois plant is as good as dead – too bad. Central Illinois doesn’t really need more economic weakness. On the upside, if I move back to central Illinois (interviewing @ State Farm) from southeastern Michigan, I’ll be able to find a little bit of Detroit there!
I work at the Illinois plant. As usual only one side is told. Two years ago we took a $5.00 cut in pay, no 401K match, no quality bonuses, added insurance out of pocket deductibles, and a clause that after 2 years we would get back $1.67 if no new model. We realized then we had to give concessions or face a possible plant closure with the economic times. If Mitsubishi came to us and said give us the $1.67 back and we will guarantee a new model, we would have given it to them. They had two years to figure out what to do with their new models. In 2002 we posted in our plant a $600 profit, so give us the cars to build and we make them with just as high quality and productivty as any Japan plant. JUST GIVE US THE CARS TO BUILD AND MITSUBISHI ACTUALLY MARKET THE CARS AND WE WILL BOTH WIN.
First off,the reporter for this article is a idiot.The headline is pure BS.You need to get both sides before creating a lopsided “story”.We gave,gave & gave back to this company and we are willing to give more to stay open.But when they have years to figure out what to do and come to us the last minute and ask for MORE time & MORE money with NO promise to keep the plant open,we said no.If you think that us(UAW)getting back a $1.67 an hr,that we gave them years ago is gonna save the company..it won’t!.By the way..we gave Mitsubishi more than $40 MILLION in savings with the cuts we took and they did NOTHING with it.Now they want a $1.67 hr back and it will save the world,GIVE ME A BREAK!!We are more than willinig to help the company survive,now they need to show us they are serious and cut back on “perks”for staff & Family and managment.We did our part,we put our heart & soul into this plant for 22+ years.Would i be willing to work for less money?..yes i would,just give me a future and cars to build.SO…Mitsubishi,either SHIT OR GET OFF THE POT.We are tired of the games.