3 Reasons Why GM Should Thank Toyota for UAW Concessions

General Motors Corp and the United Auto Workers have come to terms…thanks to Toyota…maybe.

Details of the deal can be found in a Wall Street Journal report. 

Several key points in the WSJ article –

1. Toyota Motor Corp., not GM or the UAW, now sets the bar for labor costs in the U.S. auto industry.

Toyota and other Asian and European auto makers run their operations and nonunion power plants at $25-30 LESS than GM, Ford or Chrylser.

2. Japanese rivals, Toyota, Honda and Nissan succeeded in transplanting their manufacturing methods to American soil:

a. using American workers

b. while keeping UAW organizers at bay

c. paying comparable wages

d. not offering Detroit-style retiree benefits.

e. running up HUGE profits 

3. GM's CEO says GM is already efficient in day-to-day manufacturing as Toyota (the benchmark) but it legacy costs have prevented it from capitalizing on it.

If American car companies come out of their funk, surely they will have Toyota and other Japanese carmakers to thank.

What do you think?