UAW Open to Increasing Second-Tier Jobs
The United Auto Workers union will consider allowing domestic automakers to hire greater numbers of workers at an entry-level wage of about $14 per hour—half the pay of veteran workers—to preserve jobs, says Joe Ashton, head of the union’s General Motors Co. unit.
He tells reporters that the UAW will “look at anything” that will retain jobs. The union’s 2007 contract with Ford Motor Co. caps such hiring at 20% of its U.S. hourly workforce. GM and Chrysler Group LLC may fill only “non-core” jobs with the lower-paid workers.
The union agreed last year to let GM run its assembly plant in Orion Township, Mich., with 40% of the workers paid the second-tier wage. In return, GM canceled plans to close the facility and committed to building a subcompact car there—work that otherwise would have gone to a lower-wage market such as Mexico.
Ashton says he believes there is a “great” chance GM will reopen assembly plants in Janesville, Wis., and Spring Hill, Tenn. The company has kept the two factories on a standby basis in case it needs additional capacity. Ashton says he’s less optimistic about the truck plant in Shreveport, La., that is slated to close in mid-2012.