Cash for American Workers, Not for the UAW

Here's something from the New York Times about the Cash for Clunkers program. Note that of the top ten new cars bought, five were manufactured in the U.S. and seven of ten in North America. Almost all the manufacturers were Japanese or Korean, but their workers were here. These workers were not UAW except for workers who produced the Ford Escape and the Toyota Corolla. Practically all the workers who produced the top ten traded-in cars were UAW.

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The Transportation Department revealed that the Ford Explorer topped the list of most traded-in clunkers, while the Toyota Corolla was the most popular car purchased through the program, followed by the Honda Civic. The top 10 traded-in vehicles were American brands and 8 of the top 10 purchased vehicles were foreign brands.

Here are the full lists:

Top 10 New Vehicles Purchased [I've added place of actual production]

1. Toyota Corolla (Fremont, California)
2. Honda Civic (Ohio and Canada)
3. Toyota Camry (Kentucky, Indiana)
4. Ford Focus (Hermosillo, Mexico)
5. Hyundai Elantra (Korea)
6. Nissan Versa (Mexico)
7. Toyota Prius (Japan)
8. Honda Accord (Ohio)
9. Honda Fit (Japan, Indonesia)
10. Ford Escape FWD (Missouri)

Top 10 Trade-in Vehicles

1. Ford Explorer 4WD
2. Ford F150 Pickup 2WD
3. Jeep Grand Cherokee 4WD
4. Ford Explorer 2WD
5. Dodge Caravan/Grand Caravan 2WD
6. Jeep Cherokee 4WD
7. Chevrolet Blazer 4WD
8. Chevrolet C1500 Pickup 2WD
9. Ford F150 Pickup 4WD
10. Ford Windstar FWD Van

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What this shows is that America's workers are making desirable cars, though the American car manufacturers are behind the curve, as they were during the gas crisis of the seventies. And that the future of the UAW, already bleak, is looking grimmer with each new car purchase. The union, saddled with a tremendous burden of retired members and their benefits, finds itself today with more history than future unless it can force a happier conclusion on this set of marketplace facts.

Michael McGrorty