Why won't public union members drive UAW cars?

I did a bit of online followup to my previous post, googling "are Volvos union built?" It wasn't my imagination, teachers and public union members do not drive UAW cars.

Here's an exceptionally FLAGRANT ACT OF JOURNALISM from JC Reindl of the Toledo Blade.

Though they lost their fight in Columbus last week against Senate Bill 5, many members and supporters of Ohio's public-sector labor unions returned home with one consolation: an invigorated sense of camaraderie with their private-sector union brethren.

"I've witnessed in the last few weeks an expression of solidarity and common cause with each other," said Francine Lawrence, president of the Toledo Federation of Teachers.

Now the question is whether this newfound fellowship will carry over to buying habits. Past experience suggests that some public union members are fine with reaping workplace benefits achieved through the historic victories of their private-sector counterparts but are indifferent about supporting these labor allies with their checkbooks.

Thus proving the point of my previous post.

The Blade recently toured the employee parking lots of numerous area schools and some unionized city of Toledo employees, noting which vehicles were assembled by union labor and which were not.

Union-made vehicles came out on top at five of the seven toured sites — Old Orchard Elementary School, Perrysburg Junior High, Jefferson Junior High,Byrnedale Junior High, and the city of Toledo lot along Orange Street between Erie Street and Spielbusch Avenue, where many police officers and other unionized employees park.

In the other two parking sites — Harvard Elementary School and McCord Junior High School — union autos were outnumbered. A full 60 percent of the cars in the elementary school's lot were nonunion.

That isn't good enough. Solidarity demands 100% union purchases - boycott Walmart, ya know.

And again proving that rationalization is the second strongest human drive.

"I'll consider it, but it just depends on how convenient it is," said Toyota Camry driver Denise Chandler, a Toledo Public Schools special education teacher at Samuel M. Jones at Gunckel Park Middle School. "If it's affordable, I will consider union."

Marjorie Harris, a TPS substitute teacher and a member of the teachers' union, drives a nonunion-made Nissan Altima that she said she received as a gift.

"I just shop what I like," she said. "I don't really go union or nonunion, but I know that I should."

I'll put money on the portion of vehicles driven by public employees in Madison exceeded the Toledo proportion of non-UAW vehicles. A big factor being that UAW doesn't build Prii (the plural of Prius).

Meade - Get going on this one.