DETROIT — Toyota’s directors voted Thursday to close the company’s only unionized plant in the United States, a joint venture with General Motors in California that G.M. abandoned as part of its recent bankruptcy.þþThe plant, in Fremont, Calif., employs 4,700 people and is the country’s only remaining auto plant west of San Antonio. It opened in 1984 as a way for Toyota to experiment with building cars in North America and for G.M. to learn more efficient production techniques from Japan.þþIt will become Toyota’s first experience with closing a plant in the United States. Production will end by March.þþAtsushi Niimi, a Toyota executive vice president for North America, said in a statement that officials “deeply regret having to take this action” but that “over the mid- to long-term, it just would not be economically viable” to maintain the plant.þþThe United Automobile Workers union, which represents the plant’s hourly workers, called the decision “illogical” and “devastating.” The U.A.W.’s president, Ron Gettelfinger, said he understood the need to reduce capacity, but he was more critical of Toyota’s decision than of other recent cuts by the Detroit automakers.þþThe Toyota workers “deserve better than to be abandoned by this company, which has profited so richly from their labor, their productivity and their commitment to quality,” Mr. Gettelfinger said in a statement. “It’s unfortunate the company chose to close a U.S. facility after benefiting so greatly from the federal cash-for-clunkers program.”þþToyota builds the Corolla compact sedan and a pickup truck, the Tacoma, at the plant, which is known as New United Motors Manufacturing, or Nummi. The Corolla was the most popular vehicle in the “clunkers” program, which ended this week. Toyota had to bring more workers into Nummi to keep up with demand.þþToyota said it planned to import the Corolla from Canada and Japan, and it would shift production of the Tacoma to its underutilized truck plant in Texas.þþG.M. discontinued the Pontiac Vibe, a small crossover vehicle built at Nummi, last week. In June, G.M. said its half of the Nummi venture would not be part of the reorganized company, forcing Toyota to determine the plant’s future. Mr. Gettelfinger did not mention G.M.’s decision in his statement.þþThe move opened the door for Toyota to also leave the venture at a time when it has been hit hard by the global slump in auto sales. Without G.M. acting first, company insiders have said Toyota likely would not have taken the political risk of shutting a union-represented plant.þþCalifornia lawmakers have been putting together a package of incentives to encourage Toyota to keep the plant open, and they said Thursday that they would continue their fight. Officials fear the plant’s closing could cause the state to lose up to 40,000 jobs.þþMembers of U.A.W. Local 2244 in Fremont held a large rally last week, amid rumors that the plant would shut down, and they are planning a second one Saturday in San Francisco.þþToyota also operates auto plants in Alabama, Indiana, Kentucky, Texas and West Virginia, but none have a unionized work force. The U.A.W. has been unsuccessful in efforts to organize Toyota workers.þþGiven that the vehicles built at Nummi are selling well, Gary N. Chaison, a professor of labor relations at Clark University in Worcester, Mass., said the Fremont plant’s unionized status probably sealed its fate as Toyota evaluated where to make cuts.þþWorkers at Nummi are paid slightly more than those at Toyota’s other American factories. þþMicheline Maynard contributed reporting.þþ
Source: NY Times
