The Toyota you DON'T know.

[Mr. Wyndham]

Toyota Linked to Human Trafficking and Sweatshop Abuses
Toyota May Be a Shade Greener Environmentally but has badly stumbled with Human Rights Abuses

NEW YORK, June 18 -- Today the National Labor Committee (NLC) is releasing a 65-page report, "The Toyota You Don't Know" documenting serious human rights violations by the Toyota Motor Company, which will disturb most Americans.

"Celebrities like Julia Roberts, Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pit, Bill Maher and others have led the way in turning Toyota's Prius into a symbol of concern for our environment," said Charles Kernaghan, director of the NLC, "We hope that these same celebrities will now also challenge Toyota to improve its respect for human and worker rights. As a start, Toyota should cut its ties to the Burmese dictators and end the exploitation of foreign guest workers trafficked to Japan."

* Toyota linked to human trafficking and sweatshop abuse: Toyota's much admired "Just in Time" auto parts supply chain is riddled with sweatshop abuse, including the trafficking of foreign guest workers, mostly from China and Vietnam to Japan, who are stripped of their passports and often forced to work--including at subcontract plants supplying Toyota--16 hours a day, seven days a week, while being paid less than half the legal minimum wage. Guest workers who complain about abusive conditions are deported.

* Prius made by low-wage temps: Fully one-third--10,000--of all Toyota assembly line workers in Japan are low-wage temps who have few rights and earn less than 60% of what full time workers do.

* Unpaid overtime and "overworked" to death: Mr. Kenichi Uchino was just 30 years old when he died of overwork on an assembly line at Toyota's Prius plant, leaving behind his young wife and two children. Mr. Uchino routinely worked 13 to 14 hours a day, putting in 106 1/2 to 155 hours of overtime--depending on whether work taken home was counted--in the 30 days leading up to his death. Toyota claimed that he had only worked 45 hours of overtime and that the other 61 1/2 to 110 hours were "voluntary" and unpaid. His wife had to go to court -- which ruled that Mr. Uchino was overworked to death -- to win a pension for their children.

* Ties to Burmese dictators: Toyota, through the Toyota Tsusho Corporation, which is part of the Toyota Group of Companies, is involved in several joint business ventures with the ruthless military regime in Burma. The dictators use these revenues to repress and torture the people of Burma.

* Toyota and the race to the bottom: Toyota is imposing its two-tier, low wage model at its non-union plants in the south of the United States, which will result in wages and benefits being slashed across the entire auto industry.

The National Labor Committee recently documented how the U.S.-Jordan Free Trade Agreement descended into human trafficking with tens of thousands of foreign guest workers held under conditions of involuntary servitude.
http://www.theautochannel.com/news/2...18/090268.html

hmm, chalk up one more reason...or rather, four more reasons for me not to buy a Toyota.

[1bad67camaro]

toyota sucks

[TAG UR IT]

Originally Posted by 1bad67camaro

toyota sucks

Ban on Toyo-tuh.

Stuff like this needs to hit CNN.

[boxmonkeyracing]

Originally Posted by TAG UR IT

Stuff like this needs to hit CNN.

we both know it probably won't. and even if it did it would be a blurp.

[DGthe3]

I knew about people being worked to death, its uncomfortably common over there. They have a word for it. But the links to dictatorships, thats news to me.

[TFord]

Ive always said it and Ill say it again...I HATE TOYOTA!

[The_Blur]

I will never buy a Toyota after this. I am outraged.

[Camaro68]

Originally Posted by TAG UR IT

Ban on Toyo-tuh.

Stuff like this needs to hit CNN.

Right on Tag, I agree.

[Tomash]

Holy ***t.

I'll never buy a Toyota. I hope my girlfriend will rethink her Yaris fascination.

[Myka]

The liberal media doesn't want to remind anyone what goes on in a socialist country. They want America to become the same for some unknown reason. That is why you won't hear much about this. It will go in the trash with the scientific data that shows "global warming" as a natural event and has nothing to do with human activity.

[SilverTurtle]

and this surprises people? did anyone think that a company could come from almost nothing to number one, or close to number one, in less than 70 years without abusing some rights? ask WAL MART how they got so big and you'll find the same kind of abuses in their closet.

it takes alot of time to make yourself big legitimately... GM has been in business for 100 years... they're the 5th largest corporation on the planet... you dont do what Toyota has done in 60 years without some kind of abuses.

people always ask me why I dont buy anything but American, American made or English cars, and the reason I give them is this:
"we, as Americans, have a job to do that nobody wants to take seriously: supporting our own position in the world... we're the leaders of the free world... America is where the world comes to get educated and strive for a dream of betterment... but we, as a whole, buy cars built by companies that are built by former Axis powers, import products from countries that treat their citizens and employees like slaves, and then get mad when the rest of the world thinks we're hypocritical and ignorant... we are ignorant, and its time for it to stop... if the car wasn't built on American soil, we need to not buy it... even better if its built by a corporation that is based inside of the continental US... Honda and Mazda are exceptions to my rule, since they are companies that were not in existence during WWII or are currently co-owned by an American company... realizing that we have to be more attentive to where our money goes is going to be the start of us freeing ourselves of the shackles of global dependence... and who knows, we might actually learn to like the items we buy in the process... might find out that GM, Ford and Chrysler still make good cars... and might make life a little bit easier for a plant worker building cars, trucks or auto parts for one of these companies, too."

[The_Blur]

Originally Posted by Myka

The liberal media doesn't want to remind anyone what goes on in a socialist country. They want America to become the same for some unknown reason. That is why you won't hear much about this. It will go in the trash with the scientific data that shows "global warming" as a natural event and has nothing to do with human activity.

Don't blame the so-called "liberal" media—the same media that ripped on Clinton for all his years in the White House. The media is occupied with the significant portion of the Midwest that is suddenly under water.

Moreover, global warming is part of a natural cycle that happens approximately ever 10 thousand years. This is the first time that extra pollution is involved. Those toxins are proven to be bad and will make this cycle worse than the last one. How much worse is up to how much pollution is in the world by the time it happens. Right now, the prospects aren't great, but they aren't catastrophic either. In other words, the people that say global warming is all-natural are wrong and so are the people that say global warming in a human phenomenon. That makes just about everyone wrong on the issue.

[Tomash]

@SilverTurtle: there are countries beside USA where citizens and employees are treated good. Hell, in some of them even better than in the US. Will you ditch american cars after I give you some examples?

[Scotsman]

Originally Posted by Tomash

@SilverTurtle: there are countries beside USA where citizens and employees are treated good. Hell, in some of them even better than in the US. Will you ditch American cars after I give you some examples?

Possibly. Holla!!!

I know in Germany (or at least it comes off this way) auto assembly line workers are treated quite well and given consideration as far as their benefits, etc. Then again you could say that for almost any European country since their goverment is so incredibly different from ours.

Truth is this is still speculative, and you guys may see it as so wrong (which to an extent it is) but you really need to study and know the Japanese culture before you make such harsh judgments. Not only that, but don't forget GM, Ford and Chrysler are no saints either in regards to assembly line worker treatment. Something is definitely wrong when the CEO of the company you're contracted to work for is taking more money home when the company he's running is losing money.