Do you know any auto assembly workers? Do they make anywhere near $73 / hour?...............that's what I thought.
"Some estimates" are for your viewing pleasure only.
Since unions have been broken down, battered, have you noticed how the economy has shaped up? Not as good as you thought, huh? Estimate that!
Slow down and understand what is being said. Labour cost and what the actual auto assembly worker makes are two very different things.
Wage is only one part of labour cost, there are also benefits and payroll taxes to be consider, all of which are generally higher with unionized workers. Add all that together and the difference in labour cost could easily reach the suggested $29/h. Now multiply that by the 7000 jobs Toyota estimates for Cambridge and Woodstock plants combined..... Thats
$203,300/h MORE!! Not chump change. Can you see how Toyota can turn a profit while building NEW plants in North America.
As for unions, I feel they have their place, but they almost always just become another useless layer of bureaucracy. Look at the steel industry, and two 100 year old companies;
Stelco - Unionized, and now all but gone
Dofasco - No Union, still there and expanding
Now I admit some of the Defasco employee's good wages and benefits can be attributed to being across the road from Stelco, and Defasco's fear of the Unions. But the Union all but doomed Stelco with their incredulous reactions when asked for concessions in 2003, despite the company losing millions, month after month for almost 2 straight years. The CEO of 30 years resigned and the ball started down the slope. Now there is more to the story then that I admit, but the following Bankruptcy, bailouts and shady dealings of a new (ex-US Steel Exec) CEO, all started with an impossible Labour Cost/Earning ratio which the Union refused to acknowledge.
IMO, unions would still be quite viable if they didn't get the blinders on, and just try and take more and more with every contract, regardless of the consequences.
