You're high; nobody makes that kind of money on the assembly line.
Do you know why Mercedes and BMW located in this country?
Hint: it's because we work cheaper than Germans do.
Line worker average cost to employ directly is about $45 an hour, wages and benefits, problem is the folks who are already retired add another 30-40 bucks an hour to GM’s costs for that actual hour of work, so GM’s costs per hour of labor are indeed $75-$85 an hour.
That’s the problem, GM, Ford, Chrysler should be going BK not begging for handouts, and the government should not even be contemplating giving them any. Throwing good money after bad is just silly.
Not only that, we’re actually *better* in terms of quality and productivity than the Germans - if we’re not unionized.
No- there probably are not any assembly line workers making $70 an hour... but have you really checked out the contracts? My Father In Law worked for a time in a Chrysler assembly plant... He made VERY good money plus impressive benefits (many executives would blush), including paid time off to pursue education in ANY subject - with the schooling paid for too!
Some other pretty incredible “benefits” as well.... It is no wonder American cars sell for as much or more than their Jap/Korean equivalents.... with generally lower quality and resale value... Less of the price goes into quality control and design, and more goes into the pockets of union employees...
I don’t recall the last time I heard of a Nissan plant here in the US seeing threats of a strike for higher pay or benefits... nor have I heard any complaints from those employed in such plants... They are glad to have the jobs and benefits they are provided. Honest wage for an honest day’s work. What ever happened to that concept? OH yeah - that isn’t part of the Union dictionary...