No arm wrestle here, but that snippet of an article didn't give much in the way of specifics. I scrounged
around on the web a little bit and it is hard to come up with real data, (sounding "Eric-like"
)...
One set of stats I did find, posted below, are extracted from a blog and maybe suspect. I also think the
numbers C&P'd are at the top of the tier, so to speak; keeping in mind some of my old cohorts from Detroit
are finishing up their careers slinging axles and are at top pay grade. The rookie hourly guy at the Toyota
plant in TN is walking in making considerably less than his UAW top pay counterpart and the 5 year guy at
the Toyota plant, imo.
I also believe those $70+/"hour" numbers tossed around include the huge health care and benefits costs that
the UAW has won and arguably have created the unlevel field that GM,Ford and Chrysler find themselves in.
I suspect the hourly guy at the US Toyota plant is not getting those near absurd benefits that have become
almost perquisites in the auto mfg'ng biz over the past 3 decades...sort of "entitlement" gone berserk, imo.
NEway, no argument here and, the real data is hard to find, at least from a cursory dig.
BR,mD
Labor cost per hour, wages and benefits for hourly workers, 2006.
Ford: $70.51 ($141,020 per year)
GM: $73.26 ($146,520 per year)
Chrysler: $75.86 ($151,720 per year)
Toyota, Honda, Nissan (in U.S.): $48.00 ($96,000 per year