Toyota ‘Quality’: Profits Trump Workers’ Safety

In the factory at lunch I asked my friend “what do you think is the reason for all these recalls?” He answered: “It’s probably because the factories where the recalled parts are made run as fast and dangerous as the one we work in.”

Over the past few months Toyota has recalled over ten different models of vehicles for faulty floor mats, sticking acceleration pedals, and weak brakes totaling around nine million recalls and counting. There have been around 20 deaths and dozens of injuries from these faulty parts. Toyota started getting reports of the faulty gas pedals in March of 2007 but didn’t start recalling vehicles until late 2009.  Toyota kept quiet about the problems to protect its profits.  But now Ford, GM, and other capitalist competitors are hoping to benefit in the competition for sales.

Toyota’s recalls aren’t their first and won’t be their last. According to the NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration) the recent Toyota recall takes 4th place out of the top 10 biggest auto recalls in history with 5.4 million recalls for their floor mats.  GM places 3rd place with 5.8 million and 2nd place with 6.7 million recalls. Ford takes 1st place with 7.9 million recalls (MSNBC.com).

This history exposes the racist and nationalistic lie that everything “built in the U.S. is stronger and more dependable than imports.” U.S. bosses use this to get workers to support U.S imperialism. While one boss may pay more than another or have slightly better working conditions, workers can never solve the racist and sexist exploitation of capitalism by chasing higher wages or supporting the “lesser-evil” boss.

 Ford, GM, Chrysler, Toyota, etc. have their parts made and assembled all over the world.  In the auto factory where I work you can read the labels on the boxes of parts and see that they come from all over: Kentucky, Mexico, Japan and elsewhere. Bosses go to where they can exploit workers for the cheapest parts and labor to make higher profits than their competitors.

But who is to blame for faulty parts and recalls? “Lazy” workers who don’t do quality checks correctly? The non-unionized foreign auto companies? No. The capitalist system and all the foreign and U.S bosses who defend it are to blame.

At the auto factory where I work, the bosses are continually speeding us up at work. On the factory floor quick assembly and rushed quality checks lead to a shorter life span of vehicles, faulty parts, recalls, injuries, and even deaths for both consumers and assembly workers.  Safety for the workers who make the vehicles or the safety for customers isn’t the bosses’ concern unless it gets in the way of their profits.

As workers in a foreign-owned, non-unionized, sub-contracting auto plant, my friends and I see the contradictions of safety and profit every day. The workers in our factory get hurt because of the long hours, speed and monotony of our work. Unsafe conditions hardly ever get fixed until someone gets seriously hurt or parts get damaged. Many times I’ve seen someone get hurt and no management or boss comes to help. But if a machine breaks and stops the production line, within seconds you’ll see tons of managers and bosses run out to see what’s going on.

We workers constantly confront the bosses on safety issues.  We have also discussed organizing to slow or stop the line to prevent layoffs and plant closings.  But capitalism will never allow the conditions for workers to make products, machines or the vehicles we use to be as safe and efficient as they could be because capitalism and its bosses will always put profits before people. I try to use these situations to show fellow workers that it’s the exploitation, racism and sexism of the capitalist system and the bosses that are making our lives this hell. Our factory is just like many other factories:  It’s loud, sweaty and fast paced.  But ours is also a school for communism. J