Posted on 09/02/2006 8:51:16 AM PDT by governsleastgovernsbest
by Mark Finkelstein
September 2, 2006 - 06:40
That's not a typo in the headline. According to this Wall Street Journal article reprinted in the Star-Telegram, "on average, GM pays $81.18 an hour in wages and benefits to U.S. hourly workers, including pension and retiree medical costs."
But in his vituperative rant against the Big Three U.S. automakers, Boston Globe columnist Derrick Z. Jackson manages to ignore the huge labor cost advantage enjoyed by non-union Toyota.
How much of an advantage? According to that same article, "Harbour Consulting President Ron Harbour estimates Toyota's total hourly U.S. labor costs, with benefits, at about $35 an hour." That's right, GM's average labor costs are 130% higher than that of the US operations of its Japanese rival. That translates into a $1,000/vehicle average labor-cost advantage enjoyed by Toyota. Thank you, UAW!
Again, Jackson breathes not a word of this in his astonishing diatribe. Annotated excerpts:
"For the fourth straight Labor Day, American soldiers are dying in a botched war in an oil-rich land. Big oil is exploiting wartime uncertainty by gouging Americans at the pump for record profits. Real wages for Americans have dropped since the invasion of Iraq. What is Detroit's response? Cars that get 17 miles per gallon on the highway and cost nearly $100 to fill."
Extra credit, Z, for managing to drag Iraq and [unproved] gas price-gouging into your rant!
"As Bush was in Yuma supposedly safeguarding us against Mexicans, GM behaved like an immigrant crawling through a sewer in the night, issuing virtually no publicity as it hired workers for a new plant in Mexico."
Sounds like Jackson has caught one too many Shawshank Redemption replays.
"You never see the CEOs of Detroit bow in apologia. All we see are more metallic mastodons. We all know what happened to the real mastodon."
Sort of like labor unions, Derrick? Their share of private-sector workers has shrunk to a barely-detectable 7.8%.
FUNNIEST CORRECTION OF THE WEEK: The following appears at the bottom of Jackson's column. "Correction: In my previous column, I wrote that defense CEOs have been paid nearly $1 trillion since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. It was $1 billion."
Hey, only off by a factor of 1,000, Mr. Jackson. Close enough when it comes to waging class warfare.
Derrick the 'Z'/NewsBusters ping to the Today show list.
Funny how clowns like this say the oil companies are gouging us, yet they are making only about 15 cents a gallon. On the other hand, the federal and state gov'ts are sucking five times that much out of our pocket yet the public thinks an excise profits tax should be levied on the oil companies.
Well, let's see. Who would I rather see get my money? An oil company that will use that money to find more oil or gov'ts that are the market equivalent of a black hole? Hmmm...let me think...
The more I read things like this, the more convinced I become that Boortz's income tax-based voting makes sense, only I would add that you have to pass an economics and political science quiz, too.
My understanding is that UAW get paid most (if not all) of it even if their plant is shut-down.
GM, Ford and Chrysler have to accept their share of the blame for agreeing to these contracts that are now literally killihg them. But for Jackson to have written an entire column blaming the Big 3 without any reference to their huge labor-cost disadvantage is intellectually dishonest.
Please see #6, which I posted before reading your comment.
You are very correct.
Jackson is just upset because the Big Three automakers decided NOT to offer a "Pimp Your Ride" option for their 2007 models.
The failure can also be attributed to the process of negotiation. The Big 3 rotated responsibilities in negotiating the contracts, rather than independently negotiating favorable terms for themselves.
They effectively eliminated the possibility of differentiating themselves as employers (as opposed to manufacturers), which may have provided the impetus for greater (and more successful) competetion.
As it is, they are now just three row boats tied to a battleship anchor.
This guy sounds just like the ignorant Bill O'Reily on that point.
I wonder are auto workers one of the unions whose scale is connected to minimum wage? If minimum wage goes up, will this 81 bucks an hour go up automatically?
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