The United Auto Workers Union desperately wants you to buy vehicles built with union labor in the United States of America.

That should come as no surprise considering the union makes its money off of organized American workers.

Some say the union model is an antiquated and obsolete way of building cars, but its pro-American sentiment is one shared by the new U.S. presidential administration. Both the UAW and the president are working to bring more car manufacturing into the country, while shunning vehicles built in countries with cheaper labor costs.

In an attempt to further its cause, the UAW will begin an ad campaign encouraging U.S. residents to only purchase vehicles built in the U.S. with union labor. That means it may suggest that you take home a U.S.-built Toyota Camry instead of a Mexico-built Ford Fusion.

From where we sit, the UAW faces an uphill battle.

In our experience in talking with car shoppers, quality and price are far more important factors in making a purchase than where a car was built.

An article on Yahoo News seconded that notion and said,

An Associated Press-GfK poll last April found that Americans would like to buy products made in the United States, but not if they cost more. Given the choice between a $50 pair of pants made overseas or an $85 pair manufactured in the United States, two-thirds said they would buy the cheaper pair.

Of course, pants are far different than cars, but the logic holds true. It’s unlikely that American consumers would be willing to pay more for U.S.-built vehicles when a potentially higher-quality foreign brand can be purchased for less money. Should the president’s border tax come to fruition, though, the game would change significantly and vehicles made in the U.S. would become less expensive than imported cars.

UAW president Dennis Williams said that the union wants to take advantage of what it sees as a movement in the U.S. to bring back manufacturing jobs. “If it’s not built in the United States then don’t buy it,” Williams said Thursday at the UAW’s headquarters in Detroit.

According to Williams, the campaign could be similar to a 1970s garment workers campaign with a jingle that told people to look for a union label on clothing.

I don’t know about you, but I’m pretty sure modern American car buyers won’t be convinced by a jingle, nor am I convinced that most buyers care where their cars are built.

Could you be convinced to only buy vehicles made in the U.S. with union labor?

-tgriffith

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