Approximately 100 General Motors employees and retirees protested outside the headquarters of United Auto Workers in Detroit, Michigan on Saturday in light of GM’s plans to produce a new compact vehicle with low-wage employees.
The picketing event occurred only days after several veteran workers from UAW at the Orion Township factory north of Detroit were instructed that they must accept a wage that is about half of what they currently make while General Motors hurries to finish preparations for its initial public offering.
GM intends to employ roughly 1,300 workers to produce a new subcompact vehicle for the Chevrolet name and the compact Buick Verano at the currently closed factory when production starts in August 2011.
The specifics of the concessions UAW’s ranking leaders made to GM have incensed most workers.
Rick Milkie, who has worked at the Orion plant for nine years, called the UAW’s agreement to permit GM to hire a large number of employees at a wage of $14 per hour unacceptable for a union that assisted in establishing an industrial middle class during the time following World War II.
“Walter Reuther is rolling in his grave,” Milkie said as he marched outside of the headquarters of UAW with a sign that read: “Call a cop, I’ve been robbed.”
During the fifties and sixties, Reuther served as the president of the UAW for many years in the union’s peak times.
The UAW has conceded to accept GM’s proposal of running its Orion factory with 40 percent of its employees at a second-rate hourly wage. The new wage is approximately half of the almost $29 per hour that experienced UAW-member GM employees currently earn. Eventually, General Motors intends to staff the factory completely with employees earning the lower wage, according to comments made to Orion employees by a union representative.
The lower hourly wage translates into a yearly salary of about $30,000, which is a drastic decrease from the $58,000 earned with the prior contract. The wage compares with the median household income in the United States of $52,000 as of 2009.
The Purpose
“The object at Orion was to become an all tier-two plant as long as it was (making) small cars,” explained Mike Dunn, the president of UAW Local 5960, during a webcast. “That could take 20 years.”
General Motors, which restructured after receiving $50 billion of assistance from the federal government, has claimed it requires the lower wage in order to produce a subcompact vehicle and still turn a profit in the U.S.
“The unique language in the Orion agreement is specific for that plant and for small cars,” said Kim Carpenter, a GM spokesperson, in a statement. “We believe this collaboration with the UAW keeps good manufacturing jobs in America.”
