Respect for Toyota Workers

Attn: Steve St. Angelo

Everyone knows that Toyota is the most successful manufacturing corporation in the world, with profits of more than $11 billion last year. American consumers clearly are driving that success. Your company sold 2.5 million vehicles in the U.S. in 2006 -- 850,000 more than you sold in Japan.

Surprisingly, your company also receives millions in subsidies from U.S. taxpayers. Kentucky alone provided $371 million in subsidies and incentives to Toyota. In return, Toyota had promised to locate good paying manufacturing jobs in Kentucky. Although your motto is "Continuous Improvement and Respect for People," I question that when:

-Employees who are injured at work never regain their jobs.

-Full-time workers are being replaced with temporary workers who are paid half what regular team members earn and and cannot afford health insurance. Temporary workers are real people, not cushions or buffers to be used and discarded whenever it suits you. They work just as hard as your full-time workers and deserve real jobs with good wages, benefits and security for their families.

-You ignored your own peer review committee with the terminations of Manuel Eades and Noel Riddell.

A world-class company should treat all of its workers with respect, whether they are temporary or injured on the job. Toyota should be setting a high standard for its workers and Kentucky, not racing to the bottom.