Will The UAW Fight For Second Tier Wages?

Edward Niedermeyer
by Edward Niedermeyer

After reaping the hurricane by forcing “Tier One” workers at GM’s Orion Assembly plant into the UAW’s “Tier Two” last year, essentially giving workers a 50% pay cut, GM has been working with the UAW ever since to mitigate that decision. Now, Bloomberg reports that the UAW’s GM negotiator is targeting the $14/hour Tier One wages for growth in upcoming negotiations, arguing that the lower pay rate is “not a middle class wage.” But, he adds

The union doesn’t expect to reach $28 an hour this year for new workers, and it doesn’t intend to make GM uncompetitive

We’ll have to wait and see what that means, but any effort on the part of GM and the UAW to reduce the gap between Tier One and Tier Two wages will help relieve the inevitable shop-floor tensions that such inequity creates.


Edward Niedermeyer
Edward Niedermeyer

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  • Fincar1 Fincar1 on May 25, 2011

    We'll see how much the SEIU has its act together after Obama gets defeated for re-election.

  • Probert Probert on May 25, 2011

    must be drag to make cars you can't afford to buy. Aw heck - chain em to a work station and be done with it.

  • John_K John_K on May 25, 2011

    Actually, it's a drag to have to subsidize grade school drop outs making twice the national average wage and we still can't afford the cars those UAW clowns produce because of their golden pension plans.

  • Indi500fan Indi500fan on May 25, 2011

    VW's new Tenn plant has set the bar even lower than UAW Tier 2 per this weeks WSJ.

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