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Toyota Acting Rashly, Say California Officials and Business, Environmental, Consumer, Religious and Labor Advocates

A blue-ribbon commission appointed by California State Treasurer Bill Lockyer met in San Francisco to examine the effects of Toyota's planned NUMMI plant closure, and to examine options to keep it open. The commission appointed by Lockyer included:

  • UC Berkeley Professor Harley Shaiken (chairman)
  • Fremont Mayor Bob Wasserman
  • Presbyterian Church USA's Rev. Bruce Reyes-Chow
  • Port of Oakland Commission Chairman Victor Uno
  • Consumer Federation of California Executive Director Richard Holober
  • East Bay Economic Development Alliance Executive Director Bruce Kern
  • Sierra Club of America President Carl Pope
  • Art Pulaski, Chief Officer, California Federation of Labor
  • Danny Glover, Actor

The plant employs nearly 5,000 workers, and closing it could result in 50,000 lost jobs from companies across the state that supply parts for the plant.

In their testimony, several witnesses stated that Toyota should keep the plant open for a few months longer so that workers, the state of California and Toyota would have time to work together to find ways to keep the award-winning production line going in what would be a win-win for the economy of California, its workers, and for Toyota itself as it struggles to redeem its tarnished image in the United States.

The Commission's report can be found here.