Skilled Trades Association, CAW Local 199 St. Catharines (General Motors Unit) | ||||||
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| At GM, Ford and Chrysler, labour costs are not the issue -- sales are. Don't blame the workers
Perhaps the ugliest fallout from the crisis gripping the automotive industry in Ontario is the mean-spirited sentiment that it is somehow the fault of workers.
It goes something like this: The men and women who toil on a production line that would cause many white-collar workers fits, who deal with workplace strain and injuries those of us lucky enough to work at desks avoid, are lazy, unproductive, overpaid and have ridden this industry into the ground. It is not true, and the fact media, politicians and industry analysts holler about how auto workers must slash their pay and benefits, that they somehow do not have a right to a decent living and a middle-class lifestyle because they get dirty on the job, startles me with its small-mindedness. I grew up in Windsor. I know people who work in manufacturing, auto workers. I also know the stereotypes about the laziness, the substance abuse, absenteeism, that CAW stands for Canadians Against Work. Well, some of that is true, just as it is true in all workplaces. But any union steward, and I have asked this of a dozen of them at different plants, will tell you five per cent of the workers create 90 per cent of their problems. The vast majority of CAW members are decent, hard-working people who want to make a living. Let's let them do that without prejudice, please. CAW assembly-plant workers earn $30 to $35 an hour on average, a good wage. But is that unreasonable for working on a factory floor? When you look at the challenges facing GM, Ford and Chrysler, labour costs are not the issue -- sales are. Costs must be contained at a time of crisis, and curtailing wages may be part of that. But union wages account for less than 10 per cent of costs at an automotive plant. It has been said if CAW workers did not take salary for a full year, it would give GM, Ford and Chrysler about 11 days of cost relief. In fact, parts are the No. 1 cost for an auto plant. The average salary of a worker in the parts sector in Canada is about $17 an hour -- hardly rich wages. Automakers have been hit harder by prices of raw materials, especially oil used for rubber, plastics and synthetic materials, and metals, which have all gone up. The other high cost is quality. If there are problems in a plant and production slows, big money is lost. A quality workforce saves money -- that is why the auto industry has historically invested in workers and pays them well. That is why auto workers in Japan, Korea, Germany, Great Britain, France, Russia, Brazil and even Mexico make more than at the average manufacturer in those countries. The industry pays well all over the world, not just here. That is the industry standard. It does so because higher pay gets the better worker, which means fewer problems and lower costs. But the irony is the automotive industry and its executives love Canadian workers, their hard work and the quality they bring to the job. It is why Canadian plants, especially GM's Oshawa plant and our own Ford St. Thomas assembly plant, regularly score high on J.D. Power and Harbour Report quality surveys. In fact, Ontario auto workers score 10 per cent higher on quality and productivity surveys than U.S. workers. It is also why Toyota and Honda have expanded and opened new plants here this year in the face of the worst auto economy in 25 years, why GM is adding production to Oshawa and a new vehicle for Cami in Ingersoll in the spring, why Ford has three of its most important vehicles at Oakville, and why St. Thomas landed the Lincoln Town Car production when Ford was shuttering other plants in the U.S. It's why Toyota makes its Lexus here -- the only plant outside Japan to do so. In fact, as awful as the layoffs and plant closings have been in Ontario, on a per capita basis, we have suffered less than the U.S. industry. Why? It's because of the workers. It now seems likely the federal government will demand further wage and benefit cuts from Canadian Auto Workers to secure a loan for the Detroit Three automakers. It is a ridiculous demand that has nothing to do with saving the auto industry and everything to do with politics. Still, federal Industry Minister Tony Clement has all but said the federal and provincial loan must be tied to the U.S. loan package and the CAW has to "be at the table," a euphemism meaning he wants wages and benefits slashed. As the political climate here turns against the Canadian Auto Workers, the union may well give concessions -- that is politics and the union has to play that game. But make no mistake, it will not mean the CAW workers are at fault. It is just that they have to be pragmatic. It makes about as much sense as demanding bank tellers to slash their pay because of the credit crisis caused by major U.S. banks and irresponsible lending practices. In their haste to blame the failings of the auto sector on the CAW, industry analysts are fond of pointing a finger at the growing automotive industry in the non-union southern U.S. and Mexico as proof labour costs are to blame for layoffs and plant closings. Sure, more plants are going to the southern U.S., where there are no unions, and Mexico now outstrips Canada in automotive production. The southern U.S. is winning plants for a lot of reasons, but salaries is just one. Volkswagen is building a plant in Tennessee, a state that offered $577 million in incentives, and Georgia gave Kia $410 million for a new plant there -- staggering incentives Canada will not match. In comparison, Ontario and Ottawa gave about $150 million for the $1.1-billion Toyota plant in Woodstock. Also, some states waive their property taxes for 20 years, municipalities will build services, and utility costs there can be about 20 per cent lower than Ontario. How important is salary to the Detroit Three? Well, the automakers bargained a wage cut from the United Auto Workers in the U.S., slashing pay for new workers about 50 per cent to about $15 an hour, creating a two-tier wage structure. They also got concessions on benefits, especially health care. Then, Ford announced it will build a new assembly plant for its Fiesta in Mexico. Then, the Detroit Three executives bargained another two-tier wage structure in Mexico, dropping the average wage of a Mexican auto worker to $2 an hour from $4. Think about that -- $2 an hour. How much money will that really save them? While it is true automakers pay higher wages than other manufacturers, the Mexico example is proof they will squeeze money out of its workers where it can regardless of economics or equity -- it is their corporate culture. That explains why unions in an automotive plant are a necessity. And before you talk about how Toyota and Honda don't have a union, sure they do -- they manage as if they have one, their workers have everything CAW workers do because that is how they keep the CAW at bay. Recently, a proposed loan package for GM, Ford and Chrysler in the U.S. was defeated by politicians from auto-rich southern states, who wanted to gut the pay and benefits of UAW workers. Those politicians want to win favour with auto industry friends at the cost of workers. That is a pattern we do not need to follow here, but likely will with CAW concessions. But if the CAW gives up some money, let's not diminish the men and women who make our cars. Let's not blame them. Let's applaud them. | ||||||
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