Well, it happened. The infamous auto bailout bombed late last night in the senate.
The senate wanted to hear that the UAW would agree to bring worker benefits in line with say, Toyota and Honda. This of course brings us around to the fact/myth that assembly line workers at the big 3 make around $60 an hour.
So I was curious about this and went looking for info on what your average big 3 assembly line worker has going for them as far as average wage, benefits, etc. And this is what I found:
Let’s start with the fact that it’s not $70 per hour in wages. According to Kristin Dziczek of the Center for Automative Research–who was my primary source for the figures you are about to read–average wages for workers at Chrysler, Ford, and General Motors were just $28 per hour as of 2007. That works out to a little less than $60,000 a year in gross income–hardly outrageous, particularly when you consider the physical demands of automobile assembly work and the skills most workers must acquire over the course of their careers.
Read the article: Assembly Line: The New Republic
Well how about that. It’s basically a myth after all. But there’s more to it then that so I strongly suggest you read the rest of the above article so you know what’s at stake here and if the auto bailout went bust for legitimate reasons.
Here’s the announcement:
I’ll keep my personal feelings about this mess to myself for now but it looks like it’s going to be one skinny Christmas for those folks in Michigan this year.
There is so much that the general public does not know about the benefits such as their kids age 29 fiddle fartin the long way through college still get full coverage of medical benefits. Now I don’t know anyone who’s kids are covered unless a full time student and up till age 22. I know my kids weren’t and we had to show proof every year of enrollment from the college. I could go on and on about this since I live in Michigan but will stop here because I am so damn mad about this! The UAW needs to be broken, plain and simple. I will continue buying a car made in America by American workers but it wont be an UAW Worker. And PLENTY of people in Michigan feel the same way believe me!
Hi Elaine,
The UAW served a purpose when it was first formed but as far as I’m concerned it has far outlived it’s usefulness.
I agree, it should be disbanded or at least undergo one hell of a overhaul.