more dishonest uaw wage reporting from the NYT

Since mythbusting rarely works, I shant repeat the number in the myth of how much United Auto Worker members employed by the Big Three American car companies (GM, Chrysler, Ford) maker per hour. Suffice to say, the number is nonsense because it includes the benefits received by retirees, i.e. non-employees. This would be the equivalent of someone telling your hourly wage was around three times what you actually make because we're going to count the pensions of folks who used to work at your company, even those who have been gone for 20 years.

The truth is that in terms of actual wages, Big Three employees make between $14 and $33/hour. UAW admits that this is perhaps marginally higher than the wages at Toyota and Honda at their American plants. And a GM executive confirms, stating that: "There is not a significant difference between what GM pays its U.S. hourly workers and what Toyota, Honda and Nissan pay their U.S workers."

So it's understandably irritating that the NYT continues to inaccurately publish numbers that create the appearance of a massive labor cost disparity between the American and Japanese car companies. There are two and only two issues that should be on the table regarding how the Big Three get back on their feet:

1) Health Care Costs Are Out of Control: This is true not just for the Big Three, but all American companies, big and small, but especially in labor-intensive industries like auto. This is a national problem that affects all companies employing folks here, including the Japanese auto makers. Health care reform is the number one necessity for real economic revitalization that will end the current recession more quickly.

2) American Car Companies Have Had Poor Management: American car buyers aren't choosing Japanese cars over Big Three cars because of how much UAW members make. That doesn't even pass the laugh test. Make better cars, the kind that consumers want, and get out ahead of the curve (fuel efficiency, hybrids, and electrics are not rocket science) instead of being reactive to what the Japanese are doing. The end.