UAW sets benchmark for wage-cutting in global auto industry

[Hannah Bell]

Having eliminated a quarter of a million jobs in the US over the past decade, General Motors, Ford and Chrysler are now planning to hire 35,000 new workers for their American plants by 2015, a leading industry analyst recently reported.

Since the 2009 restructuring of the auto industry by the Obama administration, Big Three profits have risen sharply, reaching $11 billion in 2010. This has been achieved not through any significant expansion of sales or market share, but through a historic assault on the conditions of auto workers, carried out with the full support and collaboration of the United Auto Workers union.

Under the current UAW contract, new workers will be paid less than $15 an hour, half the traditional wage earned by auto workers, and increasing numbers will be relegated to temporary status. These workers can be fired at will.

In the run-up to this summer’s talks on a new contract covering 114,000 workers, the UAW has signaled its willingness to expand the number of workers being paid near-poverty “tier two” wages, including current workers who would see their wages cut by 50 percent.

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2011/apr2011/pers-a25.shtml


There are UAW workers still waiting to be rehired & they're hiring 35K of cheap labor.