> They are THRIVING here under the same environment that Detroit claims is > suffocating them so much that they must move plants to Mexico (at the cost > of thousands of jobs). > > I'm not saying that the Japanese are guileless angels only out to do good: > what I am saying is that they're sounding kicking our asses on a perfectly > level playing field.
Allow a bit of anecdotal evidence here from my local economy. Delphi Systems, one of GM's largest parts suppliers, just renegotiated a contract with UAW to slash pay rates from as high as $28/hr to $14/hr with a 2 year lump sum payout of the lost wages. Toyota is fighting unionization tooth and nail, as is mentioned in this Washington Post article from May 26: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/25/AR2007052502458.html > The UAW and the workers have seized on leaked business > documents from Toyota that detail a plan to put a lid on > manufacturing wages in the United States. At a new factory > being built in Mississippi, Toyota plans to pay workers about > $20 an hour in a region where many people earn $12 to $13 > an hour. The average Toyota worker at Georgetown makes > about $25 an hour. That being said, I don't find support for layoffs from the manufacturer itself (Toyota), as a matter of fact the same article includes this quote: "We think the historic American approach to things is to run full blast, pay out as high as you can in the short term while times are good, and then when times go bust, you lay people off, you shut plants and you destroy communities," said Pete Gritton, a Toyota vice president who oversees human resources at the company's plant. "Toyota does not want to do that." Indeed, the last layoff I found for Georgetown, KY (their largest plant) was in August of 2006 while they upgraded production tines. The problem lies in the fact that Mr Gritton just pointed out - bad contracts. Companies today just cannot survive paying healthcare for every person that ever worked for them for more than a year! Because of union rules, some shops have to have backup workers sitting in a lounge being paid their hourly wage for no work just in case something happens to someone on the line... at $20-25/hr! The problem is that those contracts and rules were made a long time ago and are now obsolete but there is no way to retract them. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| ColdFusion MX7 and Flex 2 Build sales & marketing dashboard RIAâs for your business. Upgrade now http://www.adobe.com/products/coldfusion/flex2?sdid=RVJT Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/message.cfm/messageid:237687 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.5
