Toyota executive backs French workers By James Mackintosh in Geneva and Peter Marsh in Fukuyama, Japan
American workers at Toyota's factories do not put as much effort into their jobs as French employees, a senior executive at the Japanese carmaker - the world's third largest - said.
Toyota's French factory is 20 per cent more efficient than its US operations because well-off American workers do not need the money so much, while French staff are motivated to work harder because of high unemployment, said Kosuke Shiramizu, board member in charge of global production.
The frank assessment by Mr Shiramizu is likely to anger American workers. It comes as anti-French sentiment, sparked by France's resistance to a US invasion of Iraq, is becoming increasingly prevalent in the US media.
Mr Shiramizu's comments on Japanese workers, who "goof around" and work less hard than in the past, and the British workforce, which he said suffers from "institutional" failings, are likely to anger workers worldwide.
North Americans are "rather wealthy and therefore don't want to work too hard", he said in an interview with the Financial Times. "In France there are many unemployed people and so [those with jobs] tend to work harder," he said.
Mr Shiramizu also said part of the reason for Japan's high productivity was that some of the company's most developed machinery was not exported to factories abroad to prevent it falling into the hands of rivals.
British unions reacted with anger after Mr Shiramizu said French, Thai and Indonesian workers were around 20 per cent more efficient than those in the UK, because of "institutional" failings in Britain.
"It is deeply offensive to our members in Britain and we will be seeking meetings with the management for them to either elaborate or apologise," said Derek Simpson, general secretary of Amicus, which represents company workers in the UK.
The assessment contrasts with independent studies, which show France at the bottom of the automotive productivity league and Britain at the top.
Toyota is expected to report record profits for an auto manufacturer this fiscal year.