Workers Can't Afford own Products

[SVT666]

UAW CHIEF: WORKERS CAN?T AFFORD OWN PRODUCTS
By Andrew Ganz


United Auto Workers union chief Ron Gettelfinger indicated yesterday that the $14 per hour base wage earned by an entry-level worker building Chrysler, Ford and General Motors products isn?t enough to buy a new car.

The argument comes nearly 90 years after Henry Ford began paying workers $5 per day in hopes that the workers would be able to afford one of their own products, a Ford Model T.

Gettelfinger said that it?s a ?fair question? whether or not auto workers can afford the products they?re assembling. An economist for Comerica, Dana Johnson, confirmed Gettelfinger?s comments by saying that a single income UAW worker making $14 per hour probably can?t afford a new car.

But a dual income family? ?Then they could clearly afford a new car,? Johnson told the Detroit News.

The UAW negotiated the $14 hourly rate in 2007 and, despite his concern that workers can?t live up to the standard promised by Henry Ford, Gettelfinger nonetheless defended the concessions. More tenured workers earn more than double the $14 hourly rate.

?We did what we had to do to get to tomorrow,? Gettelfinger said.

[Raza]

$14 an hour with benefits is plenty to buy a new car.

[SVT666]

$14 an hour with benefits is plenty to buy a new car.

But not a Camaro SS or a Corvette Grand Sport it's not.  Poor workers.  I feel for them.

[Jon?]

$14 an hour with benefits is plenty to buy a new car.

Not one with heritage.

[Vinsanity]

at $14/hr, one can buy a much better (used) car today than a new Model T was during the 1920's.

[thewizard16]

I suppose it's unfortunate that they aren't living up to Henry Ford's original promise, but as for an assembly worker not being able to afford to buy a new car in general? Not too sympathetic. People who work for Boeing can't afford to buy a jet, people who work for boat companies often can't afford to buy a new speedboat, the average construction worker can't afford a custom built home, and so forth. Most people who work in manufacturing high-ticket durable goods can't afford to buy them new, so that argument seems somewhat hollow to me. In fact, I doubt most single-income assembly workers in any industry can afford to buy a decent new car. I hope things will improve for them, but their assembly workers base rate is still a very reasonable annual paycheck (full-time, anyway). I know people with Masters degrees making that little if you broke it down to hourly pay.

[GoCougs]

In what warped alternative universe does the UAW live that such an illogical statement would curry any favor whatsoever with the general public? Unbelievable.

[280Z Turbo]

I worked at Herman Miller for 3 summers at $9.50 an hour. Herman Miller makes some high class office furniture, but I couldn't afford any of it. So what? It was a menial job.

A friend of mine is an engineer at an industrial pump company. Is he entitled to a $800,000 pump just for working there?

[SVT666]

I worked at Herman Miller for 3 summers at $9.50 an hour. Herman Miller makes some high class office furniture, but I couldn't afford any of it. So what? It was a menial job.

A friend of mine is an engineer at an industrial pump company. Is he entitled to a $800,000 pump just for working there?

I can't afford the multi-million dollar HVAC systems I design.

[JWC]

I guess they should have negotiated some kind of vehicle credit based on hours or days worked. 

My cousin's husband worked a ranch in Montana and used to get paid a small paycheck ($600.00/month) and a side of beef twice a year.

[SVT666]

I guess they should have negotiated some kind of vehicle credit based on hours or days worked. 

My cousin's husband worked a ranch in Montana and used to get paid a small paycheck ($600.00/month) and a side of beef twice a year.

That's a great idea actually.  I pay people who do work or model for me with shirts.  They're happy with it.

[Cookie Monster]

If there were no used cars I could see this being a problem, but why do these people deserve to buy a new car? There are millions of people in their place who can't buy new cars. Should they have their income raised too?

[MX793]

$14 an hour on base pay, but how much overtime do these guys typically work?  Let's say they average 7 hours a week of OT.  Now their $28K income grows to over $35K.  You may not be able to afford a fancy car, but I'd think you could swing a Cobalt or Focus. 

[JWC]

That's a great idea actually.  I pay people who do work or model for me with shirts.  They're happy with it.

Most of my models work for 8x10's.

[SVT666]

Most of my models work for 8x10's.

Mine get to keep what they were modelling.

[JWC]

Mine get to keep what they were modelling.

So do mine... they were not wearing clothes...LOL.

[SVT666]

So do mine... they were not wearing clothes...LOL.

Huh.  I should try that.

[Speed_Racer]

1) I'm sure they could swing for a Cobalt (on a 72 month loan or a lease or something ridiculous like that).
2) Don't they already get good benefits such as employee discounts, pensions, is that job bank still around?

[JWC]

2) Don't they already get good benefits such as employee discounts,.....

A really good discount and it follows them after they retire, they have a "code" they give the dealership they are buying their vehicle from and the dealer submits it to the manufacturer.   It's good at any dealership in the U.S.

[dazzleman]

UAW CHIEF: WORKERS CAN?T AFFORD OWN PRODUCTS
By Andrew Ganz


United Auto Workers union chief Ron Gettelfinger indicated yesterday that the $14 per hour base wage earned by an entry-level worker building Chrysler, Ford and General Motors products isn?t enough to buy a new car.

The argument comes nearly 90 years after Henry Ford began paying workers $5 per day in hopes that the workers would be able to afford one of their own products, a Ford Model T.

Gettelfinger said that it?s a ?fair question? whether or not auto workers can afford the products they?re assembling. An economist for Comerica, Dana Johnson, confirmed Gettelfinger?s comments by saying that a single income UAW worker making $14 per hour probably can?t afford a new car.

But a dual income family? ?Then they could clearly afford a new car,? Johnson told the Detroit News.

The UAW negotiated the $14 hourly rate in 2007 and, despite his concern that workers can?t live up to the standard promised by Henry Ford, Gettelfinger nonetheless defended the concessions. More tenured workers earn more than double the $14 hourly rate.

?We did what we had to do to get to tomorrow,? Gettelfinger said.

I understand the point, though lots of people build products they can't afford.  Even I do, in my own way.

The problem with the unions is the inefficiency in the work rules that cause production costs to be much higher than they need to be, and the fact that they require so many people to be paid for either not working, or long after the are no longer working.  If unions hadn't saddled companies with those burdens, they'd be able to pay workers more and still make a good profit.

[the Teuton]

The people with whom I work have college educations and most of them don't even pull down $14/hr. at this stage of the game.

[dazzleman]

The people with whom I work have college educations and most of them don't even pull down $14/hr. at this stage of the game.

True.  Most people just starting out can't truly afford a new car, though in the classic American fashion, they can get financing with payments they can't afford so they can 'own' one.  That's also true of these auto workers.

[sportyaccordy]

This is a pretty ludicrous complaint. Like the bus boy at a fancy restaurant complaining that he can't eat there.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTJpLBXGBkM#t=0m7s

[FlatBlackCaddy]

Wow, a entry level worker getting 14 an hour plus the pathetic benefit package of a mistreated union auto worker.

The poor bastards, we might as well put them in mass government housing and sell their children to the wealthy to shine their shoes and tend to their house duties.

This is slavery, plain and simple.

I make little more than this, haven't had a vacation in 5 years and have NO benefits and even I feel sorry for them.

I just run a business, that is no where near the skill level that operating automated machinery requires.

I can't believe people have the poor taste to say that auto workers have a unrealistic sense of entitlement.

What the hell do they base that belief on?

[the Teuton]

How's your gag reflex? If you don't know, test it out by reading the interview with Ron Gettelfinger at the end of the new Car and Driver.

[thewizard16]

How's your gag reflex? If you don't know, test it out by reading the interview with Ron Gettelfinger at the end of the new Car and Driver.

I'll do that sometime when I'm not already mildly annoyed. I imagine he is the epitome of the undeserved sense of entitlement that the UAW has become known for over the last couple decades?

[cawimmer430]

But not a Camaro SS or a Corvette Grand Sport it's not.  Poor workers.  I feel for them.

Oh come one! They can afford 1,200-hp Supra's or supped up Honda Civic DX VTEC Type-R Mugen's which destroy any Corvette or Camaro! 

[omicron]

Is this.......serious?  What nonsense.

[Northlands]

Is this.......serious?  What nonsense.

Clearly you haven't had enough exposure to North American culture. 

[cawimmer430]

I wonder if someone who puts together Rolls Royce's and Bentley's can afford those cars...