Honda opens new U.S. plant as Detroit seeks bailout
GREENSBURG, Indiana (Reuters) - The rest of the country may have been debating the possible bankruptcy of America's iconic automakers on Monday, but in southeast Indiana more than 1,000 U.S. workers were cheering the opening of Honda's newest assembly plant.
As a shiny Honda Civic sedan rolled up beside Indiana's governor and Honda's president, Greensburg Mayor Gary Herbert posed a question designed to remind Americans that the U.S. auto industry extends beyond Detroit.
"Is this Civic an American-built automobile?" Herbert thundered, smiling at a sea of white-suited workers who seemed very pleased to have landed high-paying jobs in an industry where layoffs are common.
"Yes," came the shouted reply from hundreds of voices.
The rise of Honda's mammoth new car plant in America's farming heartland is a stark contrast to the layoffs and plant closings announced in recent months by General Motors Corp, Ford Motor Co and Chrysler LLC.
But for the Honda workers here, their jobs -- with a starting wage of $18.41 an hour -- are just as much part of the U.S. auto industry as those at their imperiled Detroit competitors. They just don't get as noticed.
"GM has laid off and cut back how many people and Honda is building a plant. What is Honda doing right? Maybe they should look at this model and learn something instead of getting a bailout," shrugged new Honda worker Larry Giles, 41.
According to 2007 figures compiled by the Center for Automotive Research, foreign automakers including Honda, Toyota and Nissan employed some 113,000 workers in the United States, about half of the 239,000 employed by Detroit's Big Three.
Like much of the country, Honda workers in Indiana have been watching the debate over the proposed $25 billion rescue plan of GM, Ford and Chrysler with mounting frustration.
OPPOSED TO BAILOUT
"I don't think they should be bailed out at all," said paint shop worker Tony Mitchell, 38. Hired by Honda in July after being laid off from his job at an American faucet-maker, Mitchell said his job was "a dream come true." And he doesn't like the precedent set by a bailout of Honda's competitors.
"It says that if you get in another bind three years down the road someone is going to bail you out again," he said.
Officially, Honda is far more circumspect about prospects for an industry rescue plan.
"Honda would support measures that would maintain the stability and viability of the auto industry," Honda spokesman Jeffrey Smith said in an interview, noting that parts suppliers were heavily integrated throughout the industry.
That the so-called foreign "transplants" are keeping their heads down as Congress debates the future of their U.S. competitors comes as no surprise to economist Sherry Cooper, executive vice-president of BMO Financial Group in Toronto. Continued...
