[Eva]

Well, to start with, the UAW workers don’t exactly make that $73/per hour, that is the per hour cost of the contract. That amount includes benefits and payouts to laid off workers at closed plants, who are still being paid their full salary. The actual worker doesn’t make much more than the workers at non-union plants. You add the contract benefits, to the other hidden costs, such as payments to towns and states for bond issues that were issued to help build, now closed, plants, and you get a bigger picture of the problems that are facing US auto workers.

Those bond issues and tax breaks that were made to lure the auto plants were nothing more than subsidies, that the auto companies cannot pay back.

There was a good article on WSJ about how bankruptcy filing makes good sense.

[ozzymandus]

Bankruptcy would be the best thing to destroy the power of the unions and reduce the costs to a reasonable level. That’s why the RATS want a bailout.

[KittenClaws]

That amount includes benefits and payouts to laid off workers at closed plants, who are still being paid their full salary. The actual worker doesn’t make much more than the workers at non-union plants.

If the actual union worker is still getting full salary and benefits after being laid off, then union workers are getting paid to not work. Getting paid to not work is a lot more than most actual non union workers get paid when they are laid off: ZERO DOLLARS.

[chrisser]

I wasn’t using the $73/hr figure.

More like half that is closer to the average take home pay for both. But one is largely set by the market, and the other is largely set by government-backed extortion.

In the absence of adversarial unions, and the laws that give them such a high degree of control, lineworker salaries would either drop to market levels, or the auto companies would employ fewer individuals with higher skills (and complementary pay) to run equipment that was more automated.

The Big 3 haven’t exactly had the greatest management, but you have to wonder how they’ve managed to stay in business this long under the conditions they have to operate.

If I was in upper management at GM, I’d have thrown in the towel and left the industry years ago - which might explain why the executive compensation at those places is also on the high side.