I hardly think that 15.00 dollars an hour as a starting wage is equal to that of an Indian Beggar, much less a ghetto mexican. What I am saying Shogun is that 27.00 an hour with basically free healthcare benefits is not inline with pretty much the rest of the corporate world and that includes the blue collar world as well. Again, I don't blame the workers for taking advantage of what is offered them, competitive wages and salary would include what others make in a like job and that includes paying for their healthcare benefits. Take for example an employee that makes 32.00 and hour and does not pay for his healthcare but over the years has used 200,000.00 dollars in benefits because of his own bad habits, that is a cost that most companies in this country do not have to take on in full. I am not saying competitive means third world country , but what I am saying is that the Auto industry needs to align itself with industry norms here in the United States or it will die. When you can show me an Idian beggar making 15.00 and hour which is the starting wage at the Toyota non-union plant in San Antonio, Tx. then let me know. Another thing, "competitive" means a wage that does not include 37 paid holiday's and COLA's for each hundred dollars in wages. It means as the old Union saying goes " A fair days pay for a fairs days work".
HERE are your "competitive wages" dude..
Race to the bottom: Mexico lowers wages to snare international auto production
MEXICO CITY: Mexican auto unions are taking a cue from U.S. labor leaders by offering two-tier hiring schemes and salary cuts that bring already low wages down to near-Chinese levels.
As more automakers turn to Mexico, a big argument for the North American Free Trade Agreement in 1993 — that Mexico's low wage rates would slowly rise to close the gap with U.S. wages — seems to have been thrown in reverse.
"The pressure has not been to raise the Mexican wages up, it's been to push the U.S. wages down," said Ben Davis, the director of the AFL-CIO Solidarity office in Mexico City.
Race to the bottom: Mexico lowers wages to snare international auto production - International Herald Tribune
Mexican autoworkers' wages driven further south
And now Mexican wages are being pushed down even more.
Wage concessions were apparently critical to persuading Ford Motor Co. to direct many of the 4,500 new jobs involved in building Fiestas to the Ford plant in Cuautitlan, on the outskirts of Mexico City.
Union leaders at the plant told The Associated Press they had agreed to cut wages for new hires to about half the current level of $4.50 per hour.
“We agreed to it,” said Ford union leader Juan Jose Sosa Arreola. “We need to be more competitive. That's the truth. That's a reality.”
Mexican autoworkers' wages driven further south | The San Diego Union-Tribune
Factories Go South. So Does Pay
Mexico's auto industry is booming, but parts outsourcing is keeping a lid on wages
These should be the best of times for Mexico's auto industry. The country produced a record 2 million cars and light trucks last year, exporting three-fourths of them, while more than $4 billion in foreign investment poured into the sector. And the government anticipates much more as Detroit's cash-strapped automakers head south for cost savings.
But Mexico's auto workers are worried. The reason: outsourcing. Sure, U.S. carmakers are shuttering plants up north, which will likely lead to new factories in Mexico. General Motors Corp. (GM ), for example, is building a $600 million plant in San Luis Potosà that will employ 2,000 starting in 2008. The Mexicans, though, fear new investments may not mean oodles of relatively high-paying jobs. That's because even south of the border automakers face relentless pressure to cut costs.
So they're saving on inventory and labor by shifting work to suppliers, which deliver pre-assembled pieces of cars directly to the factory floor. More than 13,500 parts jobs were created in Mexico last year, vs. 4,500 coveted assembly positions, which have been a ticket to the middle class for many Mexicans. "Ford and other automakers are increasingly relying on outsourcing," says Juan José Sosa, national secretary-general of the Ford Autoworkers Union in Mexico. And like their Detroit counterparts, Mexican auto workers are feeling the squeeze of global competition.
"The companies are always saying...that in China costs are much lower or that unions in the U.S. are offering very good concessions," says Sosa. Ford acknowledges that it's outsourcing more, as part of an effort to become more competitive worldwide.
Factories Go South. So Does Pay
