Chrysler CEO says two-tier union pay scale will have to end

[Bozita]

Source: Detroit Free Press

Chrysler CEO says two-tier union pay scale will have to end
8:05 AM, Oct. 28, 2011
BY BRENT SNAVELY
DETROIT FREE PRESS BUSINESS WRITER


Chrysler and Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne said today that the UAW and the company need to find a way to merge the company’s two classes of workers in the company’s next round of contract talks.

“The two tier wage structure is …in the long term, not a viable structure on which to build our industrial footprint,” Marchionne said during a conference call today for Chrysler’s second quarter earnings.

About 12%, or 2,800, of Chrysler’s workers were hired at an entry-level wage of about $14.65 per hour. That’s about half the $28 per hour wage for workers hired prior to 2007.

The UAW on Wednesday said its 26,000 UAW-represented workers ratified a new four-year contract that includes a wage increase for entry-level workers to $19.28 per hour from about $14.65 per hour. That contract expires in 2015.



Read more: http://www.freep.com/article/20111028/BUSINESS0103/111028016/Chrysler-CEO-says-two-tier-union-pay-scale-will-end?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|FRONTPAGE

[guitar man]

1. fine then

Raise the workers on the lower tier to the upper tier, problem solved :crazy:

[Bonhomme Richard]

2. LOL, like that is what they plan. n/t

[Ship of Fools]

3. Yep--you KNOW it's coming ... "We tried but we couldn't do it ..." Horseshit.

[dtexdem]

4. What happens when you cave?

They wait and then bring the roof down on you.

[hvn_nbr_2]

5. "build our industrial footprint"

and stamp it on your prone backs.

[MJJP21]

6. I am in a union

I agree that the two tier wage system should go. My union did somthing like this a few years back where the new hires would take 6 years to reach the final rate. In my mind it was gutless to approve a new contract at the expense and on the backs of new union members who could afford the least. That is not nor should it be what being in a union is about. The top members should take a cut as well and bring everyone in line.

[LiberalFighter]

14. When I hired in it was a lower rate. But

within 90 days I was at full rate.

If I was back then again, I wouldn't had minded it being for up to 6 months and it being graduated until full pay.

[county worker]

16. Well how does it feel to be a member of the race to the bottom club?

You must be part of the 1%. No working class person would wish his/her fellow workers take a pay cut. That is unless you are one of the ideologies that vote against their own best interest.

The workers are tax payers who bailed out their employer and now that they are on their feet the tax paying workers should give more concessions! Bull Shit!

BTW what union are you in?

[No Elephants]

7. They know workers have no options in this economy.

And for everyone who leaves, five are waiting.

The plutocracy is working beautifully.

[defendandprotect]

9. Remember when auto industry had no options except for a bail out by public ?????

[defendandprotect]

8. What we need to end is CORPORATISM in America -- !!! We bailed out auto industry??!!!!

Why did we rescue these elites -- ?

We should have taken over the plants and kept the workers on putting them to work

on electric cars!

[valerief]

10. Chrysler workers say Chrysler CEO will have to end. nt

[Exultant Democracy]

11. If they didn't have the burden of providing health care maybe they could compete

without sticking it to the workers. Singer payer is the only way to save American industry, it is all about the competitive advantage.

[LiberalFighter]

15. Businesses need to get on board with single payer.

The problem is that it hasn't been explained to the idiots why it is in their favor to support it.

How many companies are paying more because the spouses of their employees opt out of their companies' insurance? If the burden was shared with all businesses it would be less of a cost to employers. Which is why it should be Single Payer. It would cost companies a lot less even to the point that they could pay their employees less overall than what they do now when all wages and benefits are calculated.

[HughBeaumont]

17. If there's one thing the 1% DON'T do, it's step on one another's toes.

They'd rather keep the whole "pie" in private hands rather than cede even one INCH of that insurance green they're stealing from workers to the government.

Unbridled capitalism has never been about ANYthing but "zero sum".

[stockholmer]

12. Neoclassical Wage Restraint Madness

http://www.debtdeflation.com/blogs/2009/01/03/neoclassical-wage-restraint-madness/


It had to happen: neoclassical economists are now advising that the anticipated recession will be much milder if only workers would accept wage cuts.

When I saw this crisis was imminent in December 2005, one major factor that motivated me to go public with my analysis was the certainty that, when the crisis hit, neoclassical economists would either blame it on wages being too high (”the abolition of Work Choices caused the Depression!”), or would suggest that wages should be cut to reduce the imbalance between the supply of and demand for labour.

The crisis hit too early, and was far too global, for the abolition of Work Choices to “cop it sweet”. But yesterday, in an OpEd in the Sydney Morning Herald, Mark Davis reported that “Economic modellers” had concluded that 1% cut in the rate of growth of wages will boost employment growth by half a percent:

Economic modellers reckon cutting aggregate wages growth by a percentage point boosts employment growth by half a percentage point. Some think it boosts employment more. In the current environment that could save more than 50,000 jobs. Let’s extrapolate a bit here: given the standard increases in productivity and population, employment growth of about 2.5 percent is needed to keep the unemployment rate constant. So “economic modellers” (i.e. neoclassical economists) reckon that a 5 percent cut in the rate of wages growth would translate into a 2.5 percent boost to the rate of growth of employment.

snip

[Kurmudgeon]

13. He's the Fiat CEO, they just happen to own Chrysler, thanks Benz and Bush!

[quakerboy]

18. I say yes

just as soon as the union get guaranteed at least 1/3 of the board seats purely based on representing the workers, and their executive pay (or to simplify, maybe their whole pay structure) is capped at 15 times what the lowest paid employee gets.