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
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
Nov 14, 2011
Two days after the UAW declared the Chrysler contract ratified, Chrysler/Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne said that two-tier wages were “not a viable structure” long-term.
Sergio of course meant that the first-tier wage earner has to get ready to plunge down. But in fact the plunge is already taking place.
First-tier workers have not had a meaningful base wage increase since 2003, and the cost of living allowances have been by stages diverted, frozen, and eliminated. Meanwhile inflation erodes the wage: a worker making $28 an hour in 2003, in order to maintain that buying power, would have to make $34.53 an hour this year!
Sergio’s goal is being pursued from both ends. The second-tier workers are gradually to be brought up to merely the average U.S. manufacturing wage of $19.28; the buying power of the frozen first-tier wage is falling toward that level, every week, every month, every year.