If we dive into the history a bit… NUMMI opned in 1962, closed in 1982, reopened in 1984 as jointed venture between GM and Toyota.
In 2009 GM declared bankruptcy and use that to pull out of NUMMI, and Toyota said if GM goes, we’re gone too. Part of it was also GM’s trimming the models. Pontiac Vibe / Toyota Matrix didn’t sell that well, and without the Vibe there’s nothing else for the factory to make. It was reported that Toyota was contemplating moving Prius manufacturing to Fremont, but ultimately decided against it. Other reasons cited were cost of shipping part from the Midwest to California, then ship the finished cars back is not economical.
So, no, UAW didn’t have much to do with it, if anything, other than to help with the severance packages when it finally closed down.
