04-10-2009, 05:41 PM
weapon wrote:
Gm needs to go into (and will) bankruptcy so they can break the union.
You cannot be competitive in todays market paying $70/hour plus healthcare and full lifetime pensions for someone who rivits a door handle all day.
That's been debunked. Line-workers average under $40k.
The problem is not with present salaries and benefits, which are at or below industry standards.
The problem is with the mismanagement of funds set aside for the health and retirement benefits of former employees. Because the money set aside was inadequate and much of it was squandered to pay off the managers who mismanaged it, they ended up with something akin to a Ponzi scheme with present contributions going right into the pockets of past employees. That digs them ever deeper into debt as more retirees pour into the system.