5. Mike: I live in KY, too. At the Georgetown Toyota plant (which has been a tremendous boon for the economy of central KY), if you walk into the plant with the word “union” on your mind, the electronic mind readers detect it and you are escorted to the door. Just kidding, but you get my drift. That having been said, Toyota pays very good wages for this area. It’s hard work and such, but the financial rewards are quite tempting. It’s been great for the local economy.
Some really good posts here! That’s why I visit this site. So many people are so well-informed and knowledgeable who post here that it’s heartening to see. I even agreed with Vivo’s post (a little)!
Here’s where my argument lies with the government getting involved: GM should have been allowed to go into chapter 11 first-before any government interference-so that they could nullify the UAW contract. After that, the government could get involved (which I find personally distasteful, but necessary.) Now that they are involved, I hope they have the cojones to regulate wages for the workers/execs and bring it into line with reasonable compensation. It just got too out-of-whack to be sustainable.
Next, what’s with people being retired at 50 and getting full pension/medical benefits? Ridiculous! These workers should have been required to work until they were 65 before getting ANY benefits/pension. That’s how it works in most industries, no?
I read a few months ago that the average pay for workers at a UAW plant was $72/hr. I also read that the average pay at an import plant (non-union) was around $40/hr. Therein lies one of the biggest problems. 40 bucks per hour is pretty good money. $72/hr is REALLY good. No wonder GM is bankrupt.
63. Mike2: I’m with you. The government is defying the law by not paying off the secured bondholders first. It’s criminal!
regards
