Is a Two-Tier Wage System Sowing UAW Division?

Omaha Steve

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Thu May-13-10 06:43 PM
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Is a Two-Tier Wage System Sowing UAW Division?

http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1988653,00.html

By Joseph R. Szczesny Wednesday, May. 12, 2010

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1988653,00.html#ixzz0nr8fdNxI

Workers install the headliner in a car on the assembly line at Ford's Chicago Assembly plant in Chicago, Illinois.
Scott Olson / Getty Images

One of the by-products of the long recession in American manufacturing has been the rise of the union-sanctioned two-tier wage system, which has left some workers getting paid less than others for the same work. "It is tough when you are working Sunday making $30 an hour, next to someone making $50 per hour, all the while knowing that you will never have an opportunity to move up to their level of pay, let alone their benefits," says Justin West, who was hired in on the second tier at a John Deere plant in East Moline, Ill.

Most workers try to avoid talking about the old wage and the new wage, but that doesn't mean they aren't thinking about it. "Unfortunately, I sense, a subtle animosity towards the old-wage workers in general," says West, that suggests "they need to retire and get out so the younger hires can move up." (See 10 big recession surprises.)

Tom Adams, who just obtained a Ph.D. from Michigan State University in labor studies after spending years on a GM assembly line in Flint, Mich., contends that the two-tier system flies in the face of unifying principles outlined in the UAW's constitution. "It destroys solidarity," he says.

Of course, resentments don't just flow one way. In 2007, union members at what was then a Delphi plant in Rochester, N.Y. voted to accept contract concessions. The catch was that the 700 workers on the second tier got a raise of roughly $1 per hour, while the 300 older workers with traditional wages saw their pay cut from $28 per hour to $16.50 per hour. "It caused a lot of tension," says Lynn Giglio, who was hired in on the second tier while her husband was working under the traditional wage scale. (Read a brief history of minimum wage.)

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1988653,00.html#ixzz0nr8v5o9H

FULL story at link.

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ingac70

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Thu May-13-10 07:22 PM
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1. It was obvious it was going to happen.

Union brothers and sisters need to stand together, and younger people do not know how to do that. It was my experience when wage tiers were on the table, people under 40 were more likely to accept them. ( I am under 40 myself) The older ones railed against them. That's why when the buyouts came, I exited stage left.

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ProgressiveProfessor

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Fri May-14-10 10:29 AM
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2. This was a no brainer, we saw what it did at the airlines

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