Toyota no hearts California

We have previously posted here and here about the silly attempt to make car manufacturers proxies in the Union/Anti union wars and in the red blue game. Bob Herbert's NYT opinion piece provides fuel and a black hat portrait of Toyota and its decision to close NUMMI and the impact of job losses in California.

More on UAW ruining Toyota's rep

In an interesting follow up to yesterday's post about bashing labor as a cause for Toyota's ills, WNOL posted the this analysis of the political players. Key point, the investigators do not include "rust belt" senators arguably more beholding to American carmakers.

Labor is the problem, huh?

Another "facts matter" example of making a anti-labor point with questionable facts and logic. This opinion piece blames General Motors and its political friends in Washington for Toyota's recent image bashing. While there may be a lot of reasons to blame the UAW for the decline of American carmakers, this connection just seems weird. Essentially the writer says the PR bloodbath Toyota has taken is fueled by tools of the UAW. The reality is Toyota made some flawed products, and as this article notes, there are plenty of deaths and lawsuits.