I admire your dedication!

You live close to where that’s happening, so I repsect your opinion, but I can’t agree with it. This wage isn’t too high? C’mon…

A similarly skilled tradesman in small business will get what the market will pay for his services. If he’s good at what he does, he’ll get paid well because his services will be in demand. These guys aren’t getting paid a market rate. Their colleagues at non-UAW plants are and they’re scared to death of having to come down to it.

The other thing about the market – it’s flexible. It moves with supply and demand. The UAW seems to think that it’s market-proof, whereas everybody else knows that GM aren’t. These guys aren’t living on a wage that’s responsive to today’s marketplace. They’re living on a wage won when the big 3 were the only 3 that counted, when times were golden – the road was big and the SUV’s were just as big and the fuel supply seemed endless.

I agree with you about the management salaries, however. GM’s management are living high on the hog, too. They could take a leaf from Toyota’s management handbook, where the top exec receives around a million per year. It’s a team effort over there and that’s why they’re prospering.

But please, don’t give me the one about my life depending on a bolt that they have to tighten as a justification for these high wages. They assemble an engineered item and they should be capable of doing that to a standard without demanding exorbitant pay that’s not commensurate with the job. I rely on my outdoor furniture to hold together so that I don’t fall off it and break my back, but how much am I willing to pay for outdoor furniture?

Again, it comes down to the market. Human resources are frequently any company’s biggest expense. In GM’s case, inflated wages and benefits are crippling the company and are going to have to be adjusted if they’re to avoid bankruptcy.

Disclosure: I do not now, nor have I ever worked for GM or any GM affiliate. I did work at Ford Motor Company (in purchasing for 7 yrs, then worldwide marketing for 3), but am gladly no longer working in anything related to the automotive industry. Last week, I bought my third Saab and I don’t want to see it disappear either.

I take exception with your statement, “Second, realize that this base salary comes after 30 years of hard work and raises — he hasn’t been making this amount for three decades.”

I used to be a member of a union (as usual, it was REQUIRED to take the job). I was being paid an outragous salary which had been “negotiated” by the union. The way it works is that everyone with my job title makes the same salary no matter what. It’s not like in the private sector where the harder you work and the better job you do you can earn a merit increase. The union regularly “negotiates” new ever-higher-paying salaries for their employees (factoring in higher cost-of living and inflation as well). Why should I work hard if the guy next to me is sleeping on the job? It’s not like I’ll be rewarded for my hard work…

There is nothing wrong with wanting better pay. The point is that these unskilled workers are getting paid way more than they are worth, or that the market can bear and that we simply have no sympathy for them. They have had a good run but now it’s over. Nothing more, nothing less.

As for your assertion that the contracts are solely the responsibility of management I can only be left to assume you have never heard of what unions call a “strike”. In a strike the workers stop working see, and the companies stop making products and start losing money. It is through the use of these “strikes” that unions are able to get such wonderful contracts.

Every three years the UAW chooses one of the Big Three to strike in order to garner ever more concessions from the automakers and that contract is then used for the other two. Back in the 90’s it was GM’s turn, management held out for months until they ran out of trucks. Go to the local Chevy dealer for a pickup? Sorry all out. GM finally had to cave after losing millions. This you somehow are able to see fit to say is only management’s fault, as if the union had nothing to do with it.

I don’t fault the worker at all. Who can blame them for maximizing their pay?

I blame GM’s management. They are the ones who are negotiating the contracts and writing the checks. The legacy costs are hurting GM’s bottom-line, but who ultimately controls the company?