Respect Workers' Rights

 

About two years ago, workers at Toyota Motor Manufacturing in Georgetown, Kentucky, decided that they wanted to launch an aggressive union organizing drive affecting about 7,000 workers.  The organizing drive was infused with new energy in February 2007 when two workers leaked an internal company memo outlining the plans of Toyota Motor Manufacturing to hold down labor costs at its facilities in North America.  Those two workers were terminated despite a peer review ruling in their favor. 

 

At the request of the two workers who were fired, the AFL-CIO and the United Auto Workers, Kentucky Jobs With Justice called a community forum in March to educate folks in Kentucky about the injustices at Toyota and held a Workers' Rights Board hearing in June. 

Sample Letter for Campaign

Subject: Toyota Manufacturing Kentucky

Dear [ Decision Maker ] ,

As one of the largest motor manufacturing corporations in the United States, it is incumbent upon Toyota to respect the rights of working people. A delegation of leaders from Kentucky, including the Reverend Cynthia Cain, State Representative Reginald Meeks, and Father John Rausch visited your corporate headquarters in August to hand-deliver to you the report of the Kentucky Workers' Rights Board. Although you refused to meet with these leaders, they are still interested in sitting down with you to discuss implementing the recommendations from the report.

Please meet with Rev. Cain, Rep. Meeks, and Father Rausch in good faith and find ways of implementing the recommendations. Those recommendations include ensuring the fair treatment of temporary workers, reinstating Manual Eades and Noel Riddell who were unjustly fired, and providing adequate restroom facilities for your female workers.

Sincerely,

Campaign Launched:
September 19, 2007


Background Information

 

Often, temporary workers are hired in at $15 per hour when regular, full-time employees make $30 per hour.

 

“Workers have a right to a just wage, decent conditions, health care, a living retirement and a time for rest and renewal along the way — a Sabbath.  There are no temporary workers — there are full time living-eating-sleeping-caring human beings receiving only temporary pay, which is an awful thing to do to anyone,” said The Reverend Dr. Albert Pennybacker

 

Terminated Toyota workers Manuel Eades and Noel Riddell both spoke to the hearing panel about the need to have their employment re-instated because they were unjustly fired.

 

Eades was a 15-year employee of TMMK when he was fired for sharing internal company documents with his co-workers.  . 

 

Like Eades, Riddell viewed the internal company document that was available for employee access and not marked confidential.  An investigation of Riddell was immediately launched.

 

Riddell spoke of his interrogation experience — the longest in Toyota’s history — which included being escorted by security into a room that locked from the outside.  Despite the fact that the peer review panel found in Riddell’s favor, the company overturned that ruling and terminated him anyway.

 

Cornelia James, an 18-year veteran of TMMK, spoke about the unsanitary restroom conditions and facilities that women workers at Toyota in Georgetown must endure.  James, along with her female colleagues, must stand in long lines waiting to use the facilities.  After a while, most women begin to unzip their pants and pull them down in preparation to rush into the restrooms, squat quickly at the commode, then rush out of the restroom with pants still unzipped and pulled down so that the next female can hurry into the stall and go through the same humiliation.