DETROIT  The United Automobile Workers union this year is renewing its effort to organize workers at plants that foreign automakers operate in the United States and will portray companies that resist as “human rights violators,” the union’s president said Wednesday.

The president, Bob King, said the companies would be better off morally and financially if they allowed their workers to organize. The union, he said, has changed its philosophy and could help the companies become more competitive, not less.

“We just have to convince them that we’re not the evil empire that they think we are,” Mr. King told reporters at an auto industry conference near the North American International Auto Show here.

Last week, the U.A.W. released a list of 11 principles for “fair union elections” that it wants foreign-based manufacturers to adopt and said it had set aside $60 million from its strike fund to spend on organizing efforts within the plans of those companies. The principles are aimed at giving workers the chance to decide whether they want to unionize without intimidation, fear of repercussions from either side or misleading information.