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October 11, 2007
INDIANAPOLIS - The Union Auto Workers may be gearing up for another battle, this time with Honda. The Union said Honda's hiring policy in Indiana is leaving them out in the cold.
A laid off UAW worker told 24-Hour News 8 she was excluded as an applicant.
"I was informed that I couldn't apply because of where I lived, that I wasn't in the hiring radius," said Margaret Ward.
Honda has limited its hiring pool to about 20 of 92 Indiana Counties. A move union leaders said discriminates against thousands of laid off union workers across the state.
"Of the 50 million dollars coming from statewide funds, those people should have an opportunity to be employed by Honda," said Ollie Dixon the UAW Local 663 Vice President.
Dixon is trying to get the national labor relations board and other groups to force Honda to expand its hiring policy to include all hoosiers. He said Honda got tax breaks and should give back.
"Everyone should have an equal opportunity to get a job there in Greensburg," said Dixon.
But Honda has already received more than 30,000 applications for 2,000 job openings.
Company Spokesman David Iida said, "We based our 20 county hiring radius for production associates on three things, safe driving distance & on time attendance, diverse workforce and limiting hiring to the state of Indiana. These were our three criteria."
Iida also said Honda has always left the "union issue" up to workers to decide. It's little consolation for people like Margaret Ward.
"I think that I live in the state of Indiana, I pay taxes here, I should be able to work anywhere I want to in Indiana. And if I'm willing to drive, then they shouldn't have a problem with that," said Ward.
Honda's Greenburg location is set to open next fall. Once in full production, it'll make 200,000 Honda Civics a year. Dixon said the UAW's plans to challenge Honda's policy are just getting underway.
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