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Highlands Today

GM Wages

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Judith C. Greenley

Published: December 13, 2008

I come from a long line of GM people and I am a little weary of reading and hearing on television about GM's Chrysler's and Ford's workers being paid $75 an hour. Where are these people getting this? Even if you factor in benefits, it isn't anywhere near that amount.

My son-in-law just retired after over 30 years as a college educated journeyman machinist (skilled trades.) His top pay was $25 an hour. We have electricians and plumbers here making that much and more.

GM is paying their line workers less than $20 per hour. If you know anyone from GM, ask them. They'll tell you that $75 per hour stuff is a bunch of bunk. GM has used these figures to cover and bolster their losses.

As we all know the companies all have atrocious management with highly inflated salaries and bonuses, and who send half of the work to foreign countries and use the U.S. profits to do it.

The government plays a hand too. Consider this, each individual foreign car imported to the U.S. gets a $1,500 tax break from our government; add to this the fact that the foreign companies are also subsidized by their own country. The profits go where? Back to the country of the car's origin. Our auto exports, on the other hand, are taxed $1,500-$2,000 each at the port of entry and without any subsidizing of our own companies by our government. It's pretty hard to compete with those figures! Then enter NAFTA and similar programs. Enough said?

Let the Big Three go down, re-organize, get rid of the blood sucking executives and bring in competent management. The other big plus of Chapter 11 re-organization would be the automatic expulsion and power of the auto unions. Foreign companies operating within the United States have no unions and are showing a tidy profit in addition to happy employees; think about that one, too.

Judith C. Greenley
Sebring

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