[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 84 (Monday, June 13, 2011)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1076]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


 IN RECOGNITION OF HONDA NORTH AMERICA'S OPERATIONS BACK UP BY AUGUST 
                                  2011

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                            HON. MIKE ROGERS

                               of alabama

                    in the house of representatives

                         Monday, June 13, 2011

  Mr. ROGERS of Alabama. Mr. Speaker, I would like to pay tribute to 
the people of Honda by including an editorial below from The Daily Home 
on May 28th about their resilience after the tragedies in Japan.

       It is very good news that Honda expects all its North 
     American operations to be back to full speed by August and 
     that includes its Lincoln plant where three of its most 
     popular vehicles are assembled.
       The March earthquake and tsunami in Japan severely hampered 
     Honda's supply chain and ended up costing the giant automaker 
     months of production as it faced difficult and at times 
     insurmountable obstacles to getting supplies from Japan to 
     North America.
       Without those supplies, cars could not be built.
       As time passed, the supply chain opened up a bit, and then 
     a little more.
       But not too long ago Honda officials (along with other 
     Japanese automakers) were expecting a late fall date for full 
     production to resume.
       Last week, however, the company announced it wouldn't take 
     that long.
       ``Honda will increase production volume at its North 
     America automobile plants to a rate of 100 percent original 
     production plan in August,'' a company press release 
     announced.
       Honda's employees in Lincoln met the news with enthusiasm.
       ``Today we announced to our associates in plant-wide 
     meetings that we are planning to accelerate recovery of our 
     production. . . .'' said Mark Morrison, a company spokesman. 
     ``When we announced that the Odyssey and Pilot would reach 
     100 percent of their original production plan in August, our 
     associates greeted the news with great applause,'' he said.
       That kind of reaction is what you would expect from Honda 
     employees. The 4,000 people who work in the local plant are 
     intensely loyal and, based on the plant's expansion since 
     opening, also are very productive.
       That loyalty and productivity have been rewarded with a 
     unique approach to the forced slowdown in production. Rather 
     than lay off workers, Honda allowed them to work on 
     maintenance chores, or to take earned vacation time to keep 
     their paychecks coming. And after the April 27 tornadoes 
     ripped through our area, Honda allowed its employees to take 
     two days per week to volunteer at cleanup activities while 
     getting paid as though they were at work.
       Those policies say a lot about Honda and the kind of 
     company it is. And they say a lot about Honda's employees and 
     the kind of people they are.
       Honda made it through this parts crisis without laying off 
     a single employee in their North American plants, the company 
     said. Now that they are ready to ramp up production again, 
     those employees are available and their morale should be 
     high, since no one had to do with a reduced paycheck during 
     the difficult times.
       The Japanese automaker obviously enjoys great economic 
     strength to be able to weather such a crisis without cutting 
     employee paychecks. We commend Honda for its approach, we 
     continue to wish the company a long and prosperous future in 
     Lincoln and the rest of its North America plants.

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