Greco,
Is political fighting more important to you than saving our own arses? Seriously. This is how you come across. Don't you think that we should all be considering HOW we can contribute to repairing our economy instead of finger pointing?
As information, the Big 3 do indeed pay TOTAL far more compensation than their rivals...making it IMPOSSIBLE for them to compete. And YES it is the UAW's fault.
He and other Republicans said wages and benefits for employees of Detroit's Big Three should be renegotiated to bring them in line with those paid by Japanese carmakers Toyota, Honda and Nissan in the United States.
Hourly wages for UAW workers at GM factories are about equal to those paid by Toyota Motor Corp. at its older U.S. factories, according to the companies. GM says the average UAW laborer makes $29.78 per hour, while Toyota says it pays about $30 per hour. But the unionized factories have far higher benefit costs.
GM says its total hourly labor costs are now $69, including wages, pensions and health care for active workers, plus the pension and health care costs of more than 432,000 retirees and spouses. Toyota says its total costs are around $48. The Japanese automaker has far fewer retirees and its pension and health care benefits are not as rich as those paid to UAW workers.
Republicans also bitterly opposed tougher environmental rules carmakers would have to meet as part of the House-passed version of the rescue package and the Senate dropped them from its package.
Some Senate Democrats joined Republicans in turning against the House-passed bill - despite increasingly urgent expressions of support from the White House and President-elect Barack Obama for quick action to spare the economy the added pain of a potential automaker collapse"
The above is from CBS: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/12/11/business/main4661859.shtml
Whether it's $73 (last year) or $69 (current) it doesn't really matter because it's too D@MN MUCH to compete!
