Do the non-union workers at Toyota, Subaru, Mercedes plants in the US get paid slave wages?
Add commentsPeople say if you bust the UAW, those workers will get slave wages, so I guess non-union auto workers get paid what like $2/hr with no health care or retirment?
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Accessories January 19th 2011
January 19th, 2011 at 7:36 pm
it’s $39 (or $49, i forget) an hour for assembly line. not a bad wage.
January 19th, 2011 at 7:49 pm
LOL, most professions base their pay on the an average of their counterparts. Companies do a survey, and pay competitive wages or else they couldn’t attract quality workers. So, in reality, the non union workers owe quite a bit to the workers with the cojones to stand up and fight for a piece of the pie.
January 19th, 2011 at 7:55 pm
UAW is really out of touch and i feel sorry for them !
January 19th, 2011 at 8:54 pm
Do you always distort issues beyond recognition and then argue with yourself?
January 19th, 2011 at 8:59 pm
Not likely!
They actually get good pay and good benefits. What they do not have are job banks (get 95% pay for doing nothing but sitting at home), job protection regardless of your actions (I personally know of a dozen people at GM who perpetrated fraud against the compnay for $10,000’s of thousands and kept their jobs because of the UAW)
They do not pay an individual who simply sweeps the floors $60,000 + a year.
January 19th, 2011 at 9:40 pm
no just another example of fear mongering on the unions part
January 19th, 2011 at 9:57 pm
No they are not slaves but they are paid fairly as opposed to union workers who are way over paid. That is why Toyota etc have no money problem why their cars sell cheaper and why they can concentrate on better gas mileage and technology. We Americans are greedy by nature and we think that because we work hard we should be entitled to more always more. So now we pay the price at every level.
January 19th, 2011 at 10:51 pm
my only concern is when all the companies go under,
a rapidly shrinking GDP, and rapidly falling $USD value
(July 2007 1USD=127jpy today 1USD=95 JPY)
Japanese car that use Japanese parts may become too expensive for US buyers
January 19th, 2011 at 11:47 pm
Toyota has to compete for the labor pool. The UAW sets the going wage. Toyota has to match that, or at least come close.
Without the unions, there would be no minimum wage, no safety measures in businesses, and no weekends.
Do you know what the very first labor law that the unions won for Americans? It became illegal for children under the age of 8 to work more than 12 hours per day in a coal mine. Do you really want to bring back those days?
January 20th, 2011 at 12:05 am
Personally, I think the day of the Union has come and gone.
When the UAW was formed, there were no government protections for workers - they needed to organize to ensure a decent wage and a safe work environment.
The government has taken over that role. All the unions seem to do now is collect dues from their members and rake management over the coals. Time to phase them out.
January 20th, 2011 at 12:39 am
If you are replying to the states, no there is min wage requirements that must be made! They can’t hire for less. We are seeing more and more companies not offering health cre or retirment plans.
January 20th, 2011 at 1:18 am
There is a toyota plant in Edgefield SC.Non Union.Average pay,26 an hour plus benefits.Poor slaves.Bust the unions,they are the problem.Great motto”Fair pay for a fair day”,but they don’t live up to their end.They spend all their time avoiding work.They are a great cause of the problems of this country
January 20th, 2011 at 2:03 am
Non-union auto workers make approximately 10% less than Union Auto workers. That is in regards to all compensation; wages, benefits etc.
The problem is that the Big Three Auto Makers were using the wrong yardstick to measure their progress. They were focused on Quarterly reports. This lead them to be overly concerned with stock prices and not concerned about what was best for the Company to remain competitive. As a result, they folded under the threat of strikes and provided far too many benefits that had to be paid in the future such as retirement benefits. (that shoved those costs off to the future and maintained the quarterly reports)
Now the future is here. The company is paying far too much to workers who no longer work. They have not invested in much R&D. They have basically, eaten the seed corn. Now they are in deep trouble.
Exactly where does anyone think more and more pay for less and less work can possibly lead? It is these massive benefits and other contractual clauses that allow people to be paid full wages for little or no work that have now made the big three uncompetitive.
The bail out will not fix this problem.
*
January 20th, 2011 at 2:38 am
They don’t get paid “slave wages” and that is largely in part by the effort put forth by the union and members of the union, whether the Toyota, Subaru, and/or Mercedes plants are unionized or not.
Most of you thumping your chests and talking about how bad the unions are, and how they “deserve it”, etc, do this little thing: Get off YA. Go to Google and search for a history of the unions in the US. Search for Matewan. Read about the working conditions for miners and factory line workers in the US before the entrance of the unions.
Most of the things you enjoy and take for granted with your employment today…sick leave, holidays, vacations, insurance, a living wage…are directly the result of union involvement. Do you really think companies started doing these things out of the goodness of their hearts?
They didn’t.
So before you start downing the unions, first you ought to say “thank you”.
Edit: You’re aware, of course, that historically unions support the Democratic tickets?
January 20th, 2011 at 2:39 am
The Mercedes plant in Vance AL tops out at almost 28.00 an hour and you get an extra 100.00 a month bonus if you are not late for the entire month. They shut down for a week and a half during Christmas with pay. They top out a 4 weeks vacation a year with sick days too. Their ins. for family coverage is less than 200.00 a month including dental and vision and drugs. Their Christmas bonus each year ranges from 3000.00 - 6000.00. They have a company match 401K.
The Honda plant in Lincoln AL is very close to the same.
That is why they have not voted in the UAW. If they did all that would become a negotiated benefit.
January 20th, 2011 at 3:00 am
NO.
The average wage and benefit pacakage for UAW workers is $71/hr and that includes “job bank” employees who are paid when they’re NOT even working!!!!!!!!
Many workers get more than $100K with overtime.
Lifetime pensions that sometimes equal what their salaries were and GOLD-plated health care plans that are in ADDITION to Medicare benefits.
The UAW constantly refuses to negotiate although the current plan adds between $1500 and $2000 to the cost of EVERY new car which makes American cars NON-COMPETITIVE.
By contrast, Toyota, Subaru, Mercedes, and BMW have located in Right-to-Work States.
Their workers average $47/hr with good health care plans and company sponsored 401k’s, and other benefits.
The cost of living in these low-tax States is lower than in Michigan which taxes anything that moves or sits still.
The workers can AFFORD the cars and trucks they make as well as homes.
They live well.
This is WHY the unions are so anxious for the Card Check legislation.
They want to ruin these companies by denying workers their rights to a secret ballot so they can unionize.
They call this competing?
Don’t think so.
January 20th, 2011 at 3:49 am
Slaves didn’t get paid any wages.
January 20th, 2011 at 4:37 am
You guess wrong.Maybe if it wasn’t for the UAW the big three wouldn’t need a bail out.
January 21st, 2011 at 11:12 am
Long story short, they paid a fair and reasonable wage, they don’t have to pay into the union’s coffers, so that’s actually a pay raise, if you really want to think about it. Michigan has coming a long way in order to reform its tax collection, no not there yet. But the real reason that they needed a bail-out is only half due to the unions. The corporate management is also responsible by manufacturing and marketing vehicles that were butt ugly, huge, and only marginally reliable. That and they kept falling for the union line, over and over again.
January 21st, 2011 at 11:17 am
for the record, 71$ an hour equals just short of 147K, please stop crying for those poor union wage slaves and if you make more than 30$ an hour in the south, then you are in for a comfortable living….
March 5th, 2011 at 3:48 pm
I applied for a job at Ford Motor in 1999 when I was perm. laid off from the steel industry and entry level was $10/hr..
March 9th, 2011 at 11:46 pm
Hmm, they have to offer a competitive wage. That includes vs union workers. If there is no union the the wages can drop dramatically and still remain “competitive” because if everyone else is able to offer a similar job for similar skills at an much lower price then it is still by definition “competitive”. Easy enough for you to understand?
But that’s not all as the dollar get more and more devalued and it will due to the dollar being dropped as the international accepted currency. The wage will not increase with the devalue of the dollar. Just letting you all know what is in store for you and yours. Enjoy it and remember to hug your ignorance and all that it has brought when it happens. Remember to tell your kids how your tried to save them by undermining there ability to bargain with those that see the as “capital”. But I am sure you’ll just play the blame game like you do know. Always the victim and never responsible for your own ignorance. God Bless, the ignorant American.
November 23rd, 2011 at 3:57 am
I work at Toyota so I know a little bit of what i`m talking about…..let me first ask this….who here thinks its fair that an employee work for a company 6 days a week 9 hours a day for 2.5-3 years not being allowed any days off, not being paid for holidays,not having any benefits,not paying into a pension BEFORE the company even considers you a full time employee?….who here thinks it`s appropriate to have every fraction of a second filled with work to the point where people literally black out, and who here thinks it`s right to have these kinds of conditions and then unilaterally speed the line up to the point where employees are required to run to keep pace with the assembly line/…Oh yes, did I mention you can`t have any liquids to drink/…and did i mention that it`s so hot you get dizzy and even though there is air conditioning throughout the plant, it is turned off to conserve costs?…final question….who here works so hard EVERY DAY that you leave work literally soaked with sweat from head to toe and so exhausted that you go home and just fall asleep only to wake up in the morning and do it all again?….if there is anyone who said yes, you get a pass, the others should probably rethink your position….this is the reality out there…as for me?…I have to go to work now and miss my kids growing up, just so I can make it to “full time status” in the next 6 months…please pray for me that I survive that long!