UDel

It sounds like you are more bothered and angry that their are jobs out there that don't require a bachelors/masters degree or a huge amount of skill that pay as much or more then you or someone who spent more on their education even if UAW wages are not the main problem or what is at issue with the big 3. The bigger problem lies with the top level decisions since the 70's and how the cars were so poorly designed by the engineers and the decision to use cheap materials and focus mainly on trucks/SUVs which is the root of the big 3s problem and why they don't sell well. They can decide to cut UAW's wages to $12 an hour but that is still not going to solve the big 3's woes or why not many people will buy them unless they are given huge incentives. It is not the workers fault the cars are designed so poorly, use cheap materials with loose tolerances, use outdated technology, drive poorly, and why they are so unreliable compared to Japanese cars.

Thing is the automotive business is a huge money making business, one of the biggest in the world and you can't just let all the profit just go to the educated white collar part of the business where the people who actually assemble the cars and do the crappy jobs in poor conditions get paid very little of those profits because they don't happen to have a job that requires an education. UAW autoworkers still don't get paid anywhere near what the managers, executives, CEO's make at the big 3.

I also never said the jobs are simple and boring as to the reason they should be paid as much or even more then some other more complicated jobs, don't know how you got that. I was saying the jobs are not that easy especially to do day in and day out in those factory conditions and if some people did it like I did they would not feel they are so easy and overpayed. I used to think it was just a cushy job and they are way overpaid before I worked there. Just because those jobs don't require a college education does not mean they should be punished with poor wages. Most of the jobs are not as easy as just screwing a bolt in, you do have to get trained and certified to do several jobs(welding, bodyshop repair, forklift/unloading and delivering material to the line when needed, operating complex machinery, fixing machinery that goes down or malfunctions, etc

It is just a fact that not all white collar jobs, even complicated ones that require a college education, certifications, masters, etc pay well, some pay quite poorly. It is also a fact that many blue collar jobs that don't require a bachelors degree pay well and as much if not much more then those jobs that require higher education. I know plenty of people who are electricians, in HVAC, work in factories, mechanics, drive trucks, etc that make 65 to over a 100K a year and they did not have to get a bachelors degree or even an associates and I think they deserve what they got paid. I also know people who have a college education and even a masters with plenty of experience in their field who make well under 60K a year because that is all the job pays. The amount of work blue/white collar workers do can often generate the same amount of profit/growth so paying someone vastly more just because they have an education may not make sense in all circumstance, in autoplants all the work those workers do and the number of cars they build generates very high profits in most cases and they should be paid accordingly.

I have a bachelors degree so it is not like I am just saying this because I never went to college, I have just worked several blue/white collar jobs and don't find all blue collar jobs to be easier then all white collar jobs.

I also said that with all the problems the big 3 is going through workers are going to have to give up some pay and especially benefits/options but their hourly pay is not the main problem with the big 3 and it is not $50-$70 an hour like many sources try to say. They make a nice middle income wage much like what people are paid in the import plants in the US except their benefits/retirement don't add up to nearly as much and I don't think paying UAW a low poor wage is going to solver anything. If you are mad at US UAW workers pay and how the jobs do not require higher education then you should also be mad at European autoworkers who make much more and Japanese autoworkers who make good wages and have strong unions. It seems those auto companies can pay their workers decent/good wages and still turn big profits and function because they have generally made good business decisions over the years where US big 3 companies have made poor decisions and are paying the price regardless of what the hourly pay is for their factory workers.

Habious

You know what? Working the quarter-grill at McDonald's (the grill used to make the Quarter-Pounders) really sucks too. You're standing on your feet, in a 3 ft. by 3 ft. space all day, it's hot, it stinks...and you don't get paid squat.

Do the McDonald's Worker's Union go on strike and demand that they all make $30.00 an hour? Heck no...because no one would pay $15.00 for a friggin' hamburger...which is what McDonald's would have to charge to pay high wages for crappy jobs.

The people who work at McDonald's do what you're supposed to do...they better themselves. They go to school, learn a trade, gain a marketable skill...and they go find themselves a BETTER job...one that's not so hard...and one that pays better.

Why is this such a terrible thing to suggest autoworkers do?

Yeah, it's a crappy, hard, monotonous job. But, if you don't really feel like bettering yourself to get a nicer, easier, higher-paying job...I don't really have a whole lot of sympathy for you.

There are people who have worked at McDonald's for 15 years. Just so you know, they STILL don't get paid squat.

I like mowing the lawn (riding mower or something self-propelled though). I'd like to have a job doing that. You only have to work during the summer...you don't go to work when the weather is bad...doesn't require a lot of thought...and you get to spend your working days out in the sun. However, I DEMAND to get paid $60-70K a year...that's what I need to provide for my family. Think that'll work?

KA8

iTrader: (1)

WTH? I didn't know they got paid that much. Man should've joined the big three right after HS. After getting my biochemistry degree from prestigious school I got started at $15/hr in CA in 2006 which is nothing! I'm barely breaking the 20's now.

It took me 5 yrs to get my degree. If I worked for one of these companies for 5 yrs I guess I could be at $30+ hr by now. No wonder American cars are expensive and they suck.

RON430

I wish I could say your experience with your education is unusual but unfortunately it isn't. But of all the things that can get taken away from you, what you learned cannot. I know that doesn't help when you work hard and are trying to get ahead but I will never stop learning and I don't think that anyone who has is poorer for it.

If you look at a lot of the comments about the auto cos and the union you see those that blame the union for the auto cos woes and those that feel the union is just getting what they deserve. Either way the companies made deals wth the union that they can't honor. And the unions have provided benefits that they will very likely also not be able to honor. Everyone is entitled to their opinion but if I had to be out of work, I would rather have a degree in biochemistry than 15 years as a UAW member on my resume. Don't expect those who felt those UAW benefits were guaranteed or have relatives getting them to be very receptive of the notion that they are the ones that put the domestic auto mfrs in the position they are in. In all honesty, there is more than enough blame to go around every participant in this debacle including consumers who bought junk for years instead of shopping elsewhere.

ffpowerLN

iTrader: (1)

Please don't equate UAW jobs to "blue collar jobs", there are so many blue collar jobs that deserve getting paid $30/hr or even more (like Lexus certified mechanics) but UAW job isn't one of them.

I've been to UAW production lines before (Ford in Atlanta) and I KNOW what kind of thing those UAW people do over there. Bottom line, they ain't worth $30/hour. PERIOD.

KA8

iTrader: (1)

I know money isn't everything. If I were to do it all over again I'd choose to go to college. My salary is slowly but surely going up and I'm glad I didn't miss out on college life. But man that $30+/hr sounds tempting.

Lexmex

I am troubled by what these workers get. My girlfriend is a nurse. And most nurses pull in somewhere in the area of $25 starting to $40 per hour at the high end and run around like a chicken with their head cut off dealing with life and death situations (work in a hospital and you'll know about this) and these UAW workers are getting more???!!!!!

She's royally ticked off by this.

ffpowerLN

iTrader: (1)

The bottom line is...

Anyone who (1) worked hard to get where he/she is right now, (2) having a profession that requires "real skill" and (3) don't make as much as those UAW worker will be royally ticked off by this.

RON430

There you go, that's a good attitude. And that isn't easy to have today. Hard to say what sort of economic change we are ultimately going through but if it becomes evident that individuals such as you are underpaid and UAW workers are overpaid, I can live with it.

SoCalSC4

If the UAW and its workers don't want to wheel & deal, they can sit at home until their unemployment runs out.
They can have "some of something or all of nothing," the way I see it.

I cannot think of a single CryCo vehicle I give a rats **** about....
But I'd like to but a new Fiat 500 Abarth

Evitzee

I think the literal translation of this from Italian is, "UAW.....Drop Dead"

The G Man

Well, I can see a skill car assembly working making $30 an hour, like worker who hand built cars and engines. An modern day assembly line worker does nothing more than operate a task that the robots cannot do, usually it’s a simply task over and over again. It’s time for the unions to look out for the interest of the car companies itself that pays the salary of their members. What the union do not realized is that they have price themselves out of the market, the union is part of the reason why the American cars companies are failing.

Habious

Fixed your post.

The G Man

The UAW, like many other unions have become too powerful for its own good. They have forgotten who pays the bill and the reason why they exist in the 1st place. Without an American auto industy, there would be no UAW.

Habious

The biggest problem is...the union feels that "Without the UAW, there would be no American auto industry"...and that attitude simply has to change.