More crazy co-worker ranting

[aleene]

Ok, I nearly let myself go today at work but I reeled it back. Someone brought up GM because the newspaper was out with all of the cuts being made. My co-worker said that GM was going bankrupt because they pay their factory workers too much in salaries and benefits. She said she did accounting at some point at GM and she couldnt believe what they

Comments

[imimichica]

No, not at all. GM doesn't pay their factory workers any more than any other skilled factory worker gets paid. They have a good benefits plan BECAUSE THEY SHOULD - health care is important, and a guy who breaks his back soldering car doors together all day doesn't need to take a second job to pay for his kids' dental visits.

I nearly cried when I saw GM's plant closings: Lansing, Ypsi and Flint... not to mention they're shutting down a huge chunk of production in Dayton. I just don't get it. Seems like someone at the top should take a pay cut and let that all trickle down...

[aleene]

exactly! it is just so tough because I really want to like these people at work and then they say these things and it is so tough to relate to them. I miss having college people around who have a larger world-view of things.

[imimichica]

'Skill' is not just tapping away at a keyboard. I couldn't assemble a car, or paint it, or program the internal computer so the digital radio works. Factory workers are just as skilled as white collar workers, but in different - and probably more necessary - ways. Why NOT reward the people who break their backs to make everyone's giant Chevy trucks?! They have every right to be paid fairly for the work they do, and to be able to raise a family and enjoy vacations and new clothes. The company that takes the best years of their lives should reward those workers when they retire.

[aleene]

I am not sure who they included in those figures but eric's dad made nowhere near that much ever, when eric's brother graduated college his first job (given as an engineer) made more than his dad made even with long overtime at the end of his career. I also read that GM gave Delphi Chairman Steve Miller a $3.7 million signing bonus a few months ago and proposed $90 million to 486 senior managers as a reward if they “steer the company through bankruptcy”. This is while they are proposing a new salary for workers of $12.50 plus benefits but new hires could be lower (source Detroit News). This is 50 cents more than I make now but I know that you can't support a family on that. And that is all I am going to argue about this. Though yes their main problem is the poor choice in cars and the fact that foriegn companies can import cars cheaply.