UAW Turns to Honda Safety in Transplant Drive

June 27,2002 Auto union leaders are keeping up the drumfire in a re-energized drive to organize unorganized transplant workers. A New York Times story Wednesday centered on the UAW’s attempt to leverage a high injury rate at Honda’s assembly plants in mid-Ohio into ammunition that could help its cause in a future representation election. Although the story noted that federal government data show that in the 1998-2000 years the injury rate per 100 workers at Honda’s plants was more than double the industry average, Honda officials were firm in denying that its safety record was excessively high. Honda of America Manufacturing Executive Vice President and general counsel Rick Schostek said U.S. Department of Labor safety logs unfairly inflate its injury rates because the automaker insists on reporting even minor injuries and does not rush victims back to work.

With the injury rates at Honda’s Marysville and East Liberty, Ohio, plants per 100 workers running at 23.5 in 2000 vs. an industry average of 10.5, the UAW has declared that assembly speeds at Honda and other unorganized transplant facilities are “a central issue” in its intensified organizing drive. The Times story quoted a number of Honda workers who have sustained workplace injuries, as well as citing Honda’s efforts to improve workplace safety.

Since Ron Gettelfinger took office as UAW president early in June, the union has moved its transplant organizing operation into top gear. A card-check organizing drive was staged at the Toyota plants in Georgetown, Ky., and Tier One supplier Johnson Controls recognized the union after a brief strike at four of its plants.