Blaming the Unions

We all know the Republicans and their sponsors in the corporate supremacy movement are out to destroy organized labor. It's part of their ideology, and they've been chipping away at the unions for years. And now they have the biggest private sector prize of all in their sights: the UAW. Senate Republicans circulating a memo encouraging their members to mount an assault on the UAW as part of the proposed bailout for auto companies. The GOP and their allies in the corporate media then spent a great deal of airtime blaming the UAW for Detroit's problems. And the media has played right along, citing an utterly false assertion that GM workers earn an average wage of $70 or more per hour, compared to US-based workers in Japanese auto companies who supposedly earn much less. That number is completely off base, as it was calculated by taking into account the benefits paid to retirees, as well as other figures designed to inflate the number. But it hasn't stopped the media outlets from parroting the $70+ figure right, left, and center.

The real cash wage for these workers in 2006 was $39.68. According to GM:

TOTAL COMPENSATION
The total of both cash compensation and benefits provided to GM hourly workers in 2006 amounted to approximately $73.26 per active hour worked. This total is made of two main components: cash compensation ($39.68) and benefit/government required programs ($33.58).
The average annual cash compensation for hourly employees in 2006 was $39.68 per hour. Included in average earnings are straight-time pay, Cost of Living Allowance (COLA), night-shift premiums, overtime premiums, holiday and vacation pay. In 2003, GM workers logged 41,363 (hours in 000's) in overtime hours for an average of 371 hours per worker; in 2004, 39,409 overtime hours for an average of 374 hours per worker; in 2005, 33,555 overtime hours for an average of 337 hours per worker; and in 2006, 27,265 overtime hours for an average of 315 hours per worker.

Benefit/government required programs in 2006 added an additional $33.58 for each active hour worked. These costs include: group life insurance, disability benefits, and Supplemental Unemployment Benefits (SUB), Job Security (JOBS), pensions, unemployment compensation, Social Security taxes, and hospital, surgical, prescription drug, dental, and vision care benefits.

So these supposedly rich, profligate union auto workers are averaging around $39 per hour in cash pay. And that's before taxes. And this graphic (from the New York Times) makes it clear that much of the auto makers' labor costs come from "legacy costs" or what they promised to retirees:



Much of those legacy costs, including health care for retirees, have been foisted onto the UAW itself beyond 2010.

The real problem in Detroit has more to do with the credit crisis (which was engineered by the free marketeers' allies on Wall Street) as well as the auto manufacturers' insistence on making SUVs instead of high-quality economical vehicles. The Republicans, factually off-base as usual, are once again scapegoating working people for the nation's problems.