Ask Arianna to Speak up to Toyota

Time magazine has chosen Arianna Huffington for its upcoming ten questions feature. Well, we have a question for the consummate blogger and much sought after political commentator. When will she ditch her Prius and speak up to Toyota?

It’s the celebrity vehicle of choice. Julia Roberts, Jennifer Lopez, Brad Pitt, Bill Maher, and Larry David all have one. It’s green. It’s hip. As the New York Times put it, the Toyota Prius has become, “the four wheel equivalent of those popular rubber issue bracelets in yellow and other colors—it shows the world that its owner cares.”

But do they care about worker rights? Toyota, the largest automaker in the world, also has one of the most atrocious labor and human rights records. In a searing report, detailed here on GRITtv, the National Labor Committee documents Toyota’s intimidation of foreign workers, its role in driving down wages and benefits in the US, and its links to human trafficking and the Burmese military dictatorship. Watch here as Charles Kernaghan and Barbara Briggs of the National Labor Committee discuss the race to the bottom in the auto industry.