From BLOOMBERG / AUTO NEWS:
General Motors Co. kept labor costs in check in a new pact with the UAW, a deal that may fail to sway investors even as it protects profit.
GM held the union to a $5,000 bonus per person for agreeing to the four-year contract, less than the $8,000 to $10,000 sought, according to two people familiar with the agreement, which is being kept private until the union makes them public on Tuesday.
GM will increase entry-level pay by $2 to $3 an hour, the people said. The contract ties more pay to GM’s earnings and makes some wages variable, the union said…
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EDITOR: In most circumstances, we are pro-union and regret their loss of membership and political muscle which was largely used to protect the middle class. Nevertheless, there are certain industries where a strike threat is so horrendous as to enable the unions to burden American industry with unsustainable labor costs. Add this to our bizarre placing of health insurance costs on employers, and we can see why the manufacturing of cars in the USA has declined so precipitously. The $2 to $3 an hour increase seems excessive. Alas, here we go again…!
Sounds like that entry level pay still has the new workers getting paid less than other auto companies and entry workers are not the problem since fewer than 3 percent of GM’s workers are paid the entry-level wage. Their problem is an older and more expensive work force, but they have produced a profit for six quarters in a row.
This sounds like too much Wall Street domination of an industry. This is the root cause problem not workers seeking fair pay.
KZ