Bowsite.com

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Kinkisharyo, the El Segundo-based U.S. subsidiary of Kinki Sharyo Co., is currently assembling 78 light rail cars for Metro, with delivery of the first car expected this month. The company has exercised an option to build an additional 97 cars under a 10-year, $891 million contract with the MTA. For now, the company is doing the work from a hangar in Palmdale. But after delays the company has said have cost it $2 million, Kinkisharyo is looking out of state for a site to build its plant.

“The company is disappointed," King said. "They would have liked to stay in Palmdale.”

The standoff began shortly after the June announcement, when Local 11 officials sought a so-called card check agreement, where a company accepts the union if a majority of workers sign authorization cards. Absent such an agreement, the National Labor Relations Board would authorize a secret ballot during an organizing campaign the company would be free to oppose. The company said no thanks.

Delays caused by a union-backed environmental complaint have cost the company $2 million, and prompted it to look out of state for a site to build its plant.

"We offer good salaries and good benefits, and we've never had a labor issue," Donald Boss, Kinkisharyo's general manager of program management, told The Los Angeles Times. "If our employees want to organize, they can. But we aren't going to organize for them."

Kinkisharyo officials say that's when the environmental issues suddenly arose. The complaint alleged Kinkisharyo did not secure proper water rights and that the project could spread spores that carry valley fever.

"The union claims are not truly about the environment, they are about trying to force union representation on the plant," said Gary Toebben, president and CEO of the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce.

A Chinese government-owned rail company was awarded a $566.6 million Massachusetts state contract on Wednesday to build subway trains for the "T," the nation's oldest subway system, despite concerns from local activists about China's human rights record as well as complaints from competitors that the company's winning bid was unrealistically low.

Chinese, Taiwanese, Mexicans, etc. all love our liberal government, exorbitant tax policies and American union labor.