Toyota workers in Kentucky plant made more than UAW members last year
2/1/07, 03:15 AM
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Toyota workers in Kentucky plant made more than UAW members last year
Article here.
Why, exactly, do we need the UAW again...? 
Last year was the first time that non-unionized workers at a foreign-owned assembly plant made more than members of the United Auto Workers union make on average in a year. The Detroit Free Press reveals in a very interesting article that Toyota paid out bonuses of $6,000 to $8,000 last year at its largest U.S. plant in Georgetown, KY. Combined with the base pay made by a non-union worker at the plant, that equates to $30/hour or $60,000/year based on a 2,000-hour work year. That is more than the $27/hour or $54,000 a UAW member made on average last year. Union workers, or course, hardly received any profit sharing bonuses last year due to the poor overall performance of the domestic automakers.
This isn't actually surprising, as a matter of fact it was bound to happen. In many instances, Toyota and other large foreign automakers operating assembly plants in the U.S. pay their workers near-UAW wages in an effort to dissuade them from unionizing. In a year when Toyota's sales have grown to record levels and the domestics are losing market share fast, it was inevitable that Toyota's big bonuses would put the pay of its assembly workers in the U.S. ahead of the UAW, which saw no bonuses last year and likely won't for a few. The lack of overtime hours was another hit to the UAW that dropped the pay for many of its members. In time, as the domestics (if the domestics?) recover and the big bonus checks are in the mail again, we expect the UAW's pay to again top that of any non-union assembly workers in the U.S.
This isn't actually surprising, as a matter of fact it was bound to happen. In many instances, Toyota and other large foreign automakers operating assembly plants in the U.S. pay their workers near-UAW wages in an effort to dissuade them from unionizing. In a year when Toyota's sales have grown to record levels and the domestics are losing market share fast, it was inevitable that Toyota's big bonuses would put the pay of its assembly workers in the U.S. ahead of the UAW, which saw no bonuses last year and likely won't for a few. The lack of overtime hours was another hit to the UAW that dropped the pay for many of its members. In time, as the domestics (if the domestics?) recover and the big bonus checks are in the mail again, we expect the UAW's pay to again top that of any non-union assembly workers in the U.S.
2/1/07, 05:53 AM
#2
In many instances, Toyota and other large foreign automakers operating assembly plants in the U.S. pay their workers near-UAW wages in an effort to dissuade them from unionizing
2/5/07, 11:13 AM
#3
2/5/07, 11:44 AM
#4
Team Mustang Source
$30 an hour, no wonder the auto industry is losing money. Granted, there are plenty of people making less than that, but there are also many making more. Throw in a few hours of overtime each week and you'd be on track to make 70-80K a year plus lots and lots of bennies!!
2/5/07, 12:25 PM
#5
They missed the most important difference in that article. Go to Toyota Georgetown and what you will see, relative to the UAW facilities I've been in, is a virtual flurry of activity. These people didn't come from an upbringing where the Union took care of dad and old grandad, they don't have a sense of entitlement, and they see this job for what it is....a lot of money given the skill level required.
Undesirable employees at TMI are not protected by a Union Hades-bent on everything but production and efficiency...you work or you go home. Back when I was with a tier one supplier I volunteered to 'help out' a facility which had UAW workers from one of the Big Three auto-makers working under a mix of managers from that company and ours. To put it plainly, when that assignment was over, I made it clear that those were the last dealings I would ever have with the UAW in any way shape or form. I would never have believed a system so poorly conceived existed had I not seen it myself.
Don't get me wrong, Toyota's methods are a long way from perfect. Room for improvement is massive in fact, and they only look good because the Unionized Big Three provide a backdrop against which production taking place in a North Korean reeducation camp might look good. But then, that should tell you something of the ridiculous constraints the realtionship with these Unions has caused. Even more unfortunate is that the Union penalizes good employees by protecting the rest.
At this point the only real, lasting solution for the Big Three is for them to simply dictate to the UAW what the situation will be in the future. A production/compensation model much like that employed by Nucor Fastener in South Bend Indiana would go a long way toward fixing what is wrong with their respective systems, and rewarding good employees far more than the Union ever would.
Undesirable employees at TMI are not protected by a Union Hades-bent on everything but production and efficiency...you work or you go home. Back when I was with a tier one supplier I volunteered to 'help out' a facility which had UAW workers from one of the Big Three auto-makers working under a mix of managers from that company and ours. To put it plainly, when that assignment was over, I made it clear that those were the last dealings I would ever have with the UAW in any way shape or form. I would never have believed a system so poorly conceived existed had I not seen it myself.
Don't get me wrong, Toyota's methods are a long way from perfect. Room for improvement is massive in fact, and they only look good because the Unionized Big Three provide a backdrop against which production taking place in a North Korean reeducation camp might look good. But then, that should tell you something of the ridiculous constraints the realtionship with these Unions has caused. Even more unfortunate is that the Union penalizes good employees by protecting the rest.
At this point the only real, lasting solution for the Big Three is for them to simply dictate to the UAW what the situation will be in the future. A production/compensation model much like that employed by Nucor Fastener in South Bend Indiana would go a long way toward fixing what is wrong with their respective systems, and rewarding good employees far more than the Union ever would.
2/5/07, 01:03 PM
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I think you can go ahead and say that about most unions. When I was in high-school, I worked in a non-union gorcery store. It was the same thing. They paid there employees enough so that they wouldn't unionize and you were there to work or go home. Then my final year of high-school I got offered a job at the competiton grocery store (I'm from a small town). They were unionized. It was horrible. Everybody was lazy and terrible to work with. I couldn't get any help from people on simple tasks because the union agreement stated they didn't have to do that. And common sense went right out the window. For example, when the garbage is full, empty it. Nope didn't happen because the union agreement said they didn't have to. And these employees would go to the union with every little problem they had. It was insane. My theory is, if you work hard you will be respected as a hard worker and treated well. If you don't, then you won't be respected and treated well. Thats why unions exsist today is because those hard working employees were being abused and underpaid. But the system is so abused today by workers its disgusting
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