Ah…the real explanation for the previous article. No conspiracy theories here…

14$ savings for everyone of those 5000+ people EVERY HOUR. See why Asia had an unfair advantage for a while?

seriously some dude in detroit starts at $28 an hour, with no experience and education? jeez the unions sure know how so suck society dry.

Not to mention if you need a break you can stub your toe and get your full pay for years while you do nothing.

CTS: the current workers earm $28. I imagine that’s an average wage. They’re probably starting at $20.

Ca36: that seems like an exaggeration

they still start at more than a lot of REAL hard workers make.

The sad part of all this is that it has been known for decades the issues that have brought both GM and unions to this point. Peter Drucker studied and warned of these problems decades ago. Why did both parties ignore the warnings and allow matters to get this far? Both GM and the unions let the workers down—both need a swift kick in the ass (repeatedly). Americans are much smarter than this…it should have never happened.

GM should’ve given the union stock when times were good. Kind of forced averyone to put the company’s interest second. And the customer’s interest first.

I thought unions worker were basically contract workers. Why would you give a contractor stock in your company?
I agree F451 -we all knew that the domestics made crappy cars but for the longest time the rest of the world made really crappy cars. When the rest of the world caught up the domestics were caught flat footed.

Why not just fire them???? all they ever seem to do is complain about low pay while they spend the day masturbating at work

Glad we can find something to agree on, LP640.

Jazz: no, I mean pay them partially in stock. Like an ESPP. That’s how i got to be part-owner of a certain MLB team.

t

I’m amazed at the comments posted here. Although I’m not a union member I’ve lived my entire life in the home of USA automobile plants, Michigan. The false impression of the UAW worker by people outside of this proud state is horrendous. All of you have obviously have no idea what it is like to work in an automobile assembly plant in this day and age. The typical line worker has a job cycle of at least 85+%. What that means is that the worker is busy assembling some portion of the vehicle for 50+ seconds every minute, 8 – 12 hours a day, non-stop. Some of the plants run at 55+ vehicles per hour. The stations can require extreme physical exertion, dirty, and loud. Many of the plants don’t have A/C reaching 110+ degrees in the summer months. Can you imagine pulling 2 doors off a full size trucks every minute for eight hours in 100 degree heat? Their bosses hand out popsicles to keep them from dehydrating when temperatures go over 100 degrees! Even aside from your misguided image of the UAW workers laziness that is still lingering from the 1970s. What is the problem with a MIDDLE class American making $20.00 per hour. This group of people are not the wealthy of our society that don’t pay taxes and hoard their money. These folks buy the vehicles they build, they are the consumers of the nation that keep us all employed, they pay more taxes than the executives at the places they work. These people know they are well paid and are scared to death of losing livelihoods, their homes, and providing for their families. Your threads above wishing them ill will is what’s wrong with this country today, lack of solidarity. If I don’t have it, neither should they! Should we all be working at Wal-mart for $8.00 per hour and no benifits? The UAW has been a fighting force for employer paid benefits across the country such as health care, something we all wish we had. The executives of these large companies continue to make audacious salaries while their businesses go bankrupt and employees get laid off and lose their life savings. Ford CEO – $26 million + stock and bonuses last year, Bob Eaton $330 MILLION for selling Chrysler to the Germans, Jurgen Schremp unknown $100s of millions for desecrating Chrysler in less than a decade, Nardelli the new Chrysler boss – $210 million just to get him to leave Home Depot. Why no posts about that?

Wow. Who invited Kervorkian to the party?

autobuyer, they’re still undereducated. That’s why. Wake the **** up.
I’m spending thousands upon thousands of dollars for my automotive education and I’ll be pissed the **** off if I can’t make more than a union worker does. Two of my instructors are in the union and say that after they retired, but before they started teaching, they were “getting payed to do nothing” which, to me, is proof of how lazy they are and only started teaching because the were bored. THEY WERE BORED! They are both also high school dropouts and only teach from experience which is fine because that’s how most of the elderly automotive teachers got their knowledge. One of then can’t even spell for **** but he gets the point across.

I am a student at WyoTech of Fremont, CA in case you’re wondering.

I forgot to mention something. I do NOT believe in making money without working for it. That includes working in an office. I don’t like the idea of sitting around an making money for it. So, as long as I at least get health insurance I could give a **** less about benefits.

Good luck at Speedy Lube, I’m sure they will cover your health care. You’ll have great options BBS PPO, HMO and the like. You probably don’t know what those are but as soon as you turn 20 years old, graduate from “auto tech” school and “wake up” perhaps you’ll have a better understanding. GM has(or perhaps had by now) the largest workforce in our country. Do you think all of UAW and Teamster members are “bored” at work and “lazy”. None of them work hard or care about their products or company? If that were the case cars and truck wouldn’t run off the line.

“The UAW has been a fighting force for employer paid benefits across the country such as health care, something we all wish we had.”

Yes, thank you UAW. I appreciate so much that because of you I get a reduced wage packaged with a ****ty and ineffectual healthcare provider that I didn’t even want, rather than receiving my full wage in liquidity so I can then shop for my own (most likely better, cheaper, and more suited to my needs) healthcare provider and make out better on both fronts. Oh wait, that would be the responsible individual’s way of doing things, and that’s just not kosher anymore in the United SociaIists of America.

“What is the problem with a MIDDLE class American making $20.00 per hour”

Well there’s your problem

well said autobuyer. lets look at some other job’s that don’t require alot of skill and tell me 20.00 an hour for hard assembly work is too much.
1) copier sales rep – 100k +
2) Insurance adjuster – 20.00 an hour
3) Boeing assmbly line – 100k +
4) Union industrial painter – 25 to 30 an hour
5) Pharmacutical Rep – 100 to 200 a year.
20.00 an hour for factory work does not seem too out of line to me. This is not China where one lives on 500.00 a month.
People on this site get upset because some guy is making middle class money to supporty himself and a family. What should piss you off are the unions that represent overpaid professional sports and Hollywood bs.
Do you know how many 20.00 an hour people would be needed together to make what someone like Barry Bonds, Tiger Woods, Brad Pitt, Oprah, NBA thugs, Tony Romo make? What these people do is not a skill, it’s talent. Are these types really worth the millions and millions they make? My opinion is no. That’s the ones to worry about what they make instead of worshiping the ground they walk on. I think the big problem is many of you on this site are very young, still in college or like 1115, still living at his Mommy’s house and your just clueless on the real world.

autobuyer: I think there’s some jealousy by some peoplewho doubt their own masculinity.

Lga life: good points.

C6 racer: I used to live in Alameda