How to Look at a Gift Horse (Shhh! NY Times Expert Admits GM's Workers Overpaid)

New York Times ^ | Micheline Maynard

[governsleastgovernsbest]

The New York Times How to Look at a Gift Horse By MICHELINE MAYNARD

Last week, General Motors, in a cost-cutting move, offered to pay 113,000 hourly workers and 13,000 workers at the Delphi Corporation to quit their jobs.

That may sound like dream fulfilled to many people, but are G.M.'s buyouts really a good deal?

G.M.'s blue-collar jobs, which pay $27 an hour with virtually free health care, are almost impossible to find elsewhere, said Gary Chaison, professor of labor relations at Clark University in Worcester, Mass.

"They have to look at the possibility of earning wages that are half as much and a health care plan that isn't as good as the one they've got," he said.

[governsleastgovernsbest]

Have a look at the excerpts from this NY Times article. The Times' chosen expert, a professor of labor relations at Clark University, effectively admits that GM is overpaying its workers:

He says that it would be "almost impossible" for GM's workers to get $27/hr and nearly free healthcare, and that if the workers went out into the market they could expect to earn about half as much. For whatever reasons, GM has clearly let the unions put it in a position where it is paying uncompetively high wages that have driven it to the verge of bankruptcy.

[CPOSharky]

Thank the union. (But the union will take care of me.)

[cripplecreek]

Between the $27 an hour line workers and the golden parachutes of executives they've done massive damage to this state. In the end the auto makers couldn't afford us low and mid wage workers in the parts manufacturing industry so it was outsourced to where ever there were cheaper workers leaving the I-94 corridor with empty factories, low wage retail jobs, and welfare.

[EagleUSA]

Thank the union. (But the union will take care of me.)
-----
Well, the real blame goes on the management of GM who pandered to the union welfare state for too long. The unions are just thugs taking advantage of any situation to extort money for corporations...who let them do it!!!

[NonValueAdded]

"This is the worst possible decision a worker can make," Professor Chaison said. "You can sit down with your accountant and figure out the implications, but you have no way of knowing what the future will bring."

Uh, Professor? Not many of us working class stiffs have accountants to sit down with, unless they happen to live next door. Take a walk around Worcester some time and ask the folks on the street about their "accountant." I'll bet most of them would name the guy at the local H&R Block.

[MichiganMan]

I have no sympathy for them. I remember in the eighties people warning that the auto unions were pricing themselves out of a job, ie. a press operator "earning" $25/hr, full pay for layoffs, double and triple overtime for holidays etc. The workers indignantly responded that it was a matter between them and GM and we should butt out and mind our own business. Well, so now as they whine about their own self destruction I'm butting out and minding my own business.

Oh yeah, and we told you!

[CPOSharky]

Well, the real blame goes on the management of GM who pandered to the union welfare state for too long. The unions are just thugs taking advantage of any situation to extort money for corporations...who let them do it!!

Without GM there would be no jobs. Without the union...

Management caved every year before because it didn't hurt the bottom line THAT YEAR. Must not be that year this time.

[cripplecreek]

most of us low and mid level wage parts manufactuers weren't union.

[CBart95]

All the Lies fit to print. All the time. NYT.
Do Not Read.

[Visalia]

I refuse to believe anything that comes from the NY Times.

[billhilly]

Losing GM in the fifties would have been calamitious, but today it wouldn't be missed except by a few parasitical unions.

[Doohickey]

Disclaimer: I'm not in a union. I've never been in a union. I don't know anyone who is in one, or ever has been.

Seems to me that GM agrees to meet the term that the union demands. GM's management was incompetent and/or lacked the sack to stand up and say NO for the long term health of the company. The bill for that lack of fortitude is coming due now.

[governsleastgovernsbest]

I understand the skepticism, but this is one case in which I do believe the Times. Their expert let the cat out of the bag - that GM's workers are grossly overpaid and that if they had to compete in the open market couldn't hope to get more than 1/2 of their current wages.

[Spktyr]

[painter]

Losing GM in the fifties would have been calamitous, but today it wouldn't be missed except by a few parasitical unions.

It would reverberate through the entire economy. We are not talking about the thousands of OVER paid union employees but EVERY employee at every GM dealership around the country plus their owners. Not to mention every company that that supplies parts (it's more than Delphi) and material (steel) that goes into making GM vehicles.

It would have a ripple effect that would hit Every community in the country.

[cripplecreek]

It would have a ripple effect that would hit Every community in the country.

That's exactly my point. Look at what the failings of the auto industry have done to Michigan and the rest of the midwest as a whole. It was all the secondary non union jobs that took the biggest hit. I made $12 an hour as a foreman at the last factory I worked in before closing it's doors so GM could outsource for some cheaper labor.

[Cincinnatus.45-70]

You say, "...GM agrees to meet the term[s] that the union demands. GM's management was incompetent and/or lacked the sack to stand up and say NO...."

This sounds fine today, but in the years the basics were given away, it would have been almost impossible to do otherwise. Think back to the 50s & 60s. State and federal laws protected the union. If management didn't agree to SOMETHING, even if everything the union demanded was outrageous, the government would step in with mandatory arbitration. How many of those ever ended with the unions empty-handed?

No, I'm afraid, like the morally bankrupt government schools, immigration, and many other current messes, we are ALL responsible. None of us was willing to say No, or even willing to stand behind others who might have wanted to say No. We now have the mess we all deserve for 40 years of DemocRat control of Congress.

[Iscool]

I understand the skepticism, but this is one case in which I do believe the Times. Their expert let the cat out of the bag - that GM's workers are grossly overpaid and that if they had to compete in the open market couldn't hope to get more than 1/2 of their current wages

If the unions got half of what they now get, there would be tons and tons of money floating around the GM and Ford net balance sheets...

Now we know that the massive profits would not result in lower cost vehicles since the non-union competitors alread charge more for comparable American made foreign brands...AND, they will sell at what the market will bear...

SO, who do you think should end up with these new profits??? Obviously it's not you friends, neighbors, or relatives...You don't like the idea of average working class American stiffs making this good money so WHO do YOU feel should get this cash???

[Bernard]

If not the local H&R Block, probablyTurbo Tax. Anybody from an elite publication who writes a story about the working class should have to produce a receipt for the last gallon of milk they purchased to prove that they have a clue about the working class.

[billhilly]

There are plenty of auto manufacturers and dealers who would pick up those willing to work at realistic wages. No industry is sacrosanct in this country, and to think otherwise embraces the concept of corporate welfare. Just think of the airlines that have gone under during the past three decades and you will see the point.