All Entries Tagged With: "hiring"
Toyota Hiring More US Autoworkers, Yet Criticism Abounds
Yesterday, Toyota officially began hiring at their soon-to-open Blue Springs, Mississippi assembly plant. It is expected that Toyota will directly employ 2,000 workers, with thousands of other new jobs being created as a result of new investment. While this is great news for Mississippi – one of the poorest states in the US – this move is not without criticism.
Toyota's new plant will employ 2,000 directly and thousands more indirectly at suppliers co-located in Blue Ridge
Toyota critics argue that Toyota’s 2,000 new hires aren’t actually “new” at all – that they are just cheaper replacements for NUMMI workers who were let go earlier this year.
Toyota May Expand San Antonio Plant
According to an interview of Toyota North American COO Yoshi Inaba by Jason Buch of the San Antonio Express-News, Toyota will be increasing production at the San Antonio plant in the next year or so. This increased production is a result of two factors:
- Tundra sales are picking up. After a dismal 2009, Tundra sales in 2010 are up 26% year to date. This increase is significantly higher than GM’s 2010 YTD sales increase, which are only up about 11%. Ram sales are down 10% so far this year, and it remains to be seen if the Tundra can outsell the Ram 1500 this year. (See all of the latest truck sales figures on PickupTrucks.com)
- San Antonio now builds the Tacoma. Following the closure of the NUMMI plant, Toyota moved almost all of their Tacoma production to the same plant that builds the Tundra.
If sales continue to increase industry-wide, and if Toyota trucks continue to sell well (the Tacoma especially), it’s likely Toyota will have to hire more workers, pay more overtime, and eventually increase capacity of the plant. Obviously, this is good news for San Antonio…but it’s also good for the USA. After all, the Tundra is the most American pickup available today. Building more trucks in America is always a good thing.
