UAW President Has Head Up His Muffler With Drive to Buy Union-Made Vehicles

UAW President Has Head Up His Muffler With Drive to Buy Union-Made Vehicles

United Auto Workers President Bob King (pictured) has ruled on one of the UAW's more controversial (and sophomoric) policies: no non-union foreign brand cars are allowed to park at union facilities.

The decision came to light last week when a Kansas City Business Journal reporter visited a Ford truck plant in his personal Toyota Camry and was told by a union worker to move his car off the premises.

The reporter argued that his Kentucky-built Camry was more "domestic" than the F-Series pick-ups being assembled at the Ford plant, but that got him nowhere.

It did, however, result in King writing a letter to the Business Journal about the importance to the local economy of buying local union-made products.

"Buying a U.S./UAW vehicle makes a difference," King wrote. "Foreign automakers accept U.S taxpayer's dollars in incentives to build assembly plants in the United States, jeopardizing the future of middle-class workers in the domestic auto industry."

In an email to Green Car Advisor, an analyst for IHS Global Insight's Automotive Group said "King's postulation is not entirely accurate; the only thing in jeopardy is the future of unionized middle-class workers."

One could argue that the foreign automakers that have been taking U.S. taxpayer dollars to build assembly plants have been the only force that has shown any growth in the U.S. auto employment ranks in the last 30 years, the analyst wrote.

"Insisting that union-made vehicles be purchased over non-union is practically 'un-American' in its push to restrict freedom of consumer choice over what products fit best for an individual's needs. That freedom of choice is what has led to the U.S. automakers' downfall and recent rebirth, as for several decades, consumers chose foreign-brand product over what domestic automakers have even admitted was inferior product."

We couldn't agree more.

While it is true that some domestic brands are now being ranked higher in quality and customer satisfaction scores than many of their foreign brand counterparts, the freedom of choice fosters competition and for consumers and for the planet that is a good thing.

While U.S. automakers focused on SUVs for most of the past decade, automakers in foreign countries - where gas prices tended to be higher - focused on more fuel-efficient vehicles. When regular reached $4 a gallon and Americans started thinking heavily about fuel prices, the U.S. automakers, generally speaking, were caught flat-footed.

Competition, not the protectionist practices the UAW's King espouse, deserves most of the credit for many improvements we're seeing in General Motors, Ford and Chrysler vehicles today in terms of quality, selection and fuel efficiency.

The UAW ought to be pressuring domestic automakers to build cars people want and that compete with Camrys and other popular foreign models (many of which are made in the U.S.). If they succeeded, they wouldn't have to worry so much about people buying non-union vehicles.

Perhaps, too, they should look at their own house to see why it is that they've been spectacularly unsuccessful in organizing the U.S. plants of foreign automotive companies.

Scott Doggett, Contributing Editor

Scott Doggett:  is an AutoObserver.com Associate Editor.