saw a family member's check today

[Goldy1]

HE makes $28.50 per hour straight time as an assembler at Chrylser. (that means unskilled on the line) He's been there about 14 years.
not a bad living for having no college huh? Just think nurses are saving your family member's lives for less right now. shame, but such is life..not fair!

[irmanator]

that and the unions is half the reason they are going under I assemble batteries for the onstar and only get 10.85/hr

[Goldy1]

I am happy to see people make a good living. However, it is a nice wage for "unskilled" labor. Maybe a little too nice. Well, it seems those good ol days are coming to an end as we can see those jobs going away.

[snafu]

During the bail-out Chrysler acknowledged average benefits which included pension, health care, COLA, shift premiums, other benefits, overtime [2007 av. 315 hrs. /worker] added an average $ 33.58 to hourly rate.
When on lay-off UI benefits are topped off; during December shut down line workers collect full salary.

What I wanted to know was why the cars were so unreliable. Was all the money spent on design or re-tooling or on corporate executive? It wasn't spent on making a good product!

[swanson719]

Just another incentive to buy used cars. I'm all for people making a living, but is $60,000 a year with benefits really worth putting bumpers on a car all day? It would seem this could be done for much less. Perhaps it will change with them being gov't owned now.

[wincrasher]

Putting a car together is hard work, and it is not "unskilled"

When the automakers layed out their costs when they were begging for money this spring, they showed their labor cost were 10% of their costs. That's it. The rest was materials, subcontractors, debt service, etc.

Quality of American cars these days is because of engineering and material choice, not assembly. If the bean counters reduced the number of fasteners, and something falls off, it's not the fault of the poor guy bolting the car together.

[red92s]

When the automakers layed out their costs when they were begging for money this spring, they showed their labor cost were 10% of their costs. That's it. The rest was materials, subcontractors, debt service, etc.
.

. . . and those pesky legacy costs, which I'd argue should be lumped into the labor bucket as well. I've seen some numbers to indicate they were paying more out to people who no longer worked for them than they were to current employees.

[ActYourWage]

I am happy to see people make a good living. However, it is a nice wage for "unskilled" labor. Maybe a little too nice. Well, it seems those good ol days are coming to an end as we can see those jobs going away.

I wouldn't say that it is an "unskilled" labor. Just because a person has a college degree doesn't give them the 'right' to have the best jobs or high paying jobs.

[ActYourWage]

Putting a car together is hard work, and it is not "unskilled"

When the automakers layed out their costs when they were begging for money this spring, they showed their labor cost were 10% of their costs. That's it. The rest was materials, subcontractors, debt service, etc.

Quality of American cars these days is because of engineering and material choice, not assembly. If the bean counters reduced the number of fasteners, and something falls off, it's not the fault of the poor guy bolting the car together.

Nice point. The workers are doing exactly what the engineering/designers lay out. The problems are usually a design flaw, from what I can tell.

[tzsgti]

I wouldn't say that it is an "unskilled" labor. Just because a person has a college degree doesn't give them the 'right' to have the best jobs or high paying jobs.

Exactly. Actually College degree jobs are usually not skilled. Its the non degree jobs that are skilled. i.e plumbing, carpentry etc.

[QueenOphelia]

Exactly. Actually College degree jobs are usually not skilled. Its the non degree jobs that are skilled. i.e plumbing, carpentry etc.

What do you mean by skill? I highly doubt a plumber or carpenter could put together a multi-million dollar Marketing plan or create a computer program that can drive a billion dollar broadcast company's ad revenue system.

Thank god my college degree has saved me from a life of standing on my feet all day. I'll gladly pay a plumber with my hard earned $ to get his hands dirty. I just couldn't ruin my weekly manicure!

[bjl584]

I guess you could make that argument about anything. A doctor out there saving lives is making $100K or so, a soldier defending our freedom is making 30K, but an actor or a sports star out there entertaining us is making Millions.

[simpleyme]

I am happy to see people make a good living. However, it is a nice wage for "unskilled" labor. Maybe a little too nice. Well, it seems those good ol days are coming to an end as we can see those jobs going away.

funny thing at my DH work those "unskilled "people are keeping their jobs and the its the "skilled" getting axed

[GREENBACK]

I think unskilled means something that can be done without specialized knowledge or training. Sounds like the majority of assembly lines I've seen . Bottom line is that somone on an assembly line should not make that kind of money. I worked part time in a battery factory years ago and made half the wages of people beside me doing the same job that required the same skills because of the union. It is, no doubt, the reason the car companies are in such a desperate state.

I don't begrudge anyone getting as much money as they can from their line of work but something eventually has to give.

[ActYourWage]

What do you mean by skill? I highly doubt a plumber or carpenter could put together a multi-million dollar Marketing plan or create a computer program that can drive a billion dollar broadcast company's ad revenue system.

Uh, that's kinda what Bill Gates (Microsoft -software) did without a college degree. I have a college degree and I have learned more in the field and my own research than I did in college. Being a plumber or carpenter does not mean they cannot do anything more than that.