UAW losing pay edge

Jim Higgins · 2007-01-31T12:23:13+00:00

UAW losing pay edge UAW is losing its edge in pay compared with nonunionized U.S. assembly plant workers for foreign companies, even as Detroit automakers aim for deeper benefit cuts to trim their losses.In at least one case last year, workers for a foreign automaker for the first time averaged more in base pay and bonuses than UAW members working for domestic automakers, according to an economist for the Center for Automotive Research and figures supplied to the Free Press by auto companies.In that instance, Toyota Motor Corp. gave workers at its largest U.S. plant bonuses of $6,000 to $8,000, boosting the average pay at the Georgetown, Ky., plant to the equivalent of $30 an hour. That compares with a $27 hourly average for UAW workers, most of whom did not receive profit-sharing checks last year. Toyota would not provide a U.S. average, but said its 7,000-worker Georgetown plant is representative of its U.S. operations.Honda Motor Co. and Nissan Motor Co. are not far behind Toyota and UAW pay levels. Comparable wages have long been one way foreign companies fight off UAW organizing efforts.But Toyota workers' pay topping that of UAW members comes as the union faces contract negotiations this year with struggling Detroit companies that will seek billions in concessions, partly because they face higher costs for retiree health care and pensions than their foreign-owned competitors.Who's to blame?UAW Region 8 Director Gary Casteel said if Toyota workers were paid more than union workers last year, the blame lies with Detroit's auto executives. The companies have lost market share because of past mistakes, which have translated into fewer bonuses for workers, said Casteel, who is on the union's executive board."Our profit-sharing formula, I know, is better than theirs -- if our vehicles are selling," Casteel said.Ron Lare, a 59-year-old Ford employee on preretirement leave, said Toyota workers shouldn't get too excited about their wages because bonuses fluctuate. The...

Jan 31, 2007 20 Replies

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Jeff 19 years ago

For that, you will have someone with real training, either someone who is an electrician or a paramedic or coroner.

But to have an electrician come to change a regular 115 V light bulb in a regular is a waste of time for the electrician and worker waiting for the bulb to be changed.

Jeff

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