The Spark

the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist

“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx

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.