Expect no sympathy from me
Posted on Wednesday, May 14, 2008
I find it really hard to have compassion for people who try to make their situation look a lot worse than it truly is.
Take for example the auto industry.
Just the other day, I saw a news story that claimed General Motors had lost $ 3. 3 billion in the first quarter of this year.
Officials with the automaker blamed a weak U. S. economy for their woes.
The attempted deflection away from themselves might work on some people, but not me.
I would argue it is not the country's economy but the company itself - more specifically its workers - that is causing the problem.
Once I saw the headline, I began doing a little Internet exploration and discovered the following.
In 2007, workers from all three major auto makers - GM, Ford and Chrysler - signed new contracts.
On average, those workers were to receive an additional $ 12, 000 per year in salary; a $ 3, 000 settlement bonus, which I assume means money they were paid just for accepting the contract; and an average of 3 percent increases per year for each of the next three years.
I also discovered there are 640, 000 active United Autoworkers (union ) members in the U. S., Puerto Rico and Canada and 500, 000 retirees. The one thing I was unable to determine was what the retirees were getting from the new contract, but rest assured, they weren't left out of the equation.
It was difficult to do any true math on this information, because I didn't know exactly how much specific salaries would go up in the next three years.
Suffice to say, it will cost hundreds of millions of dollars to meet the terms of those contracts.
So, in order to pay, the "Big 3 "automakers have but one choice - keep raising the prices on their cars.
Remember when a car cost a few thousand dollars, and you could buy a house for less than $ 20, 000, or even $ 15, 000 ?
Now it's hard to find a new car for less than $ 15, 000, or more likely $ 20, 000, and when we see sticker prices of $ 30, 000 and more we don't even flinch.
I don't see these high prices for cars, and the automakers losing money, as a sign of a weak economy.
I see it as the automakers giving in to the bullying tactics of the unions and having to pay so much money to these workers.
Instead of being happy with the money they are being paid for the work they do, when union workers think the cost of living has gone up too much, or something else is taking more of their paychecks than they would like, they simply drop everything and go on strike.
Most of us can't do that. If we find it costing more to live today than it did yesterday, we just tighten our belts and go on.
We give up a luxury or cut back on something to save money.
The autoworkers try to make us feel sorry for them, to think they are getting a raw deal.
Well, they just got an average $ 12, 000-a-year increase in pay. In the same year they received that money, the U. S. government determined the poverty level in America to be $ 10, 200 and below for one person. For a family of four, that goes up to $ 20, 650.
Bottom line is this: If you got a $ 12, 000 raise - not including a $ 3, 000 bonus - last year, don't even attempt to tell me how bad you have it. Why don't you go down to the unemployment office, or stop by the office of social services, and tell those waiting in line for their assistance just how bad things are in your life. Or even better, the next time you see a man or a woman wearing the uniform of one of our armed forces, stop them and see if they will let you cry on their shoulder. Last year, Congress approved a 2. 2 percent increase for the military, the lowest in the past 10 years. Just doesn't seem fair, does it ?
• • • Douglas Grant is managing editor of The Weekly Vista. He has been a journalist since 1987, in Virginia, North Carolina and Florida.
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