Honda knows what it means

Nov 19, 2007

Honda announced that it will start production at a new plant in Greensburg, Indiana, in late 2008. Starting pay will be only $15, rising to $18 in two years.

Up to now, the transplants Toyota and Honda paid their hourly workers about $24 an hour. This was calculated to be near enough to the unionized auto worker’s wage of $28 an hour, so that transplant workers would have less incentive to unionize.

But with the new UAW contracts now paying new hires $14 to $16, all the other auto companies now understand they don’t have to pay top wages any more.

The new UAW concessionary contract is opening up an enormous race to the bottom – one that will only end when workers begin to stand together and oppose it.