Quote:
Originally Posted by melliedee
If you have a UAW example of an unreasonable benefit I'd like to hear it.
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I don't know if "unreasonable" is the issue. I think the issue is average labor hour cost per worker. Toyota pays about $47 per hour while GM pays about $72. So, lets say Toyota has 5000 production workers, their labor cost is $125,000 PER HOUR lower than GM. That's one million dollars per day or 1/4 billion per year. I can't exactly say that Toyota is cheaping out on their labor because in comparison, for managing 2.5 million in construction, controlling over 2 million in expenses, and being responsible for the safety of 22 workers, my compensation, including profitability bonus, is in the neighborhood of $40 per hour. I know most, if not all, of Toyota's plant are now under UAW so it seems there is a point where you price yourself out of the market. But, I could see justification for the large pay discrepancy if GM produced a higher quality vehicle and produced it more efficiently than Toyota or Honda, but that is far from the case, and that falls squarely in the area of operations management and the labor force. Pay scales in management and labor will have to evaluated and adjusted to survive. Productivity issues and maximizing use of labor will have to be evaluated for the companies to survive. Streamlining management will have to take place for the company to survive (read: layoffs). Target markets will have to be evaluated and redefined for the company to survive. The company has no obligation whatsoever to stay in business while billions of dollars are being lost.