Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/5/84; site whuxl.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxr!mhuxb!mhuxn!mhuxm!mhuxj!houxm!whuxl!orb From: orb@whuxl.UUCP (SEVENER) Newsgroups: net.politics Subject: Unions, Management and Japan : Reply to Jeff Sonntag Message-ID: <479@whuxl.UUCP> Date: Wed, 13-Feb-85 17:50:05 EST Article-I.D.: whuxl.479 Posted: Wed Feb 13 17:50:05 1985 Date-Received: Thu, 14-Feb-85 02:44:00 EST References: <509@decwrl.UUCP> <602@mhuxt.UUCP> Organization: Bell Labs Lines: 33 > Jeff Sonntag > Yeah, UAW workers have compromised with management. Instead of the > unlimited amount they really want, they've settled for only $20/hr and enough > benefits to cost management $50/hr. Of course, many UAW workers are now out > of work since American automobiles cannot compete with imports at these rates. > And they wonder why it's economical to replace them with expensive robots. There are several fallacies in this response. 1)Foreign workers (e.g. Japanese) get far less than American workers Actually Japanese workers get only several dollars per hour less than American workers and also get the benefit of virtually guaranteed lifetime employment. This is on the level of manual assembly-line workers. On the level of management and particularly the highest executives however there are enormous differences in compensation. The highest Japanese auto executives get about $100,000 per year if I recall correctly. (this is based on memories of a report on NPR so the exact figure may be wrong) The highest American auto executives however get over $500,000 per year. Calvin Trilling had an excellent article in the Nation pointing out the absurdity of the CEO of Ford getting over a 10% raise in pay at the same time Ford was in a major economic slump and was asking Union workers for major wage concessions. There *are* major discrepancies in personnel costs: the question is for which personnel and at which levels? 2)American workers, because of expense are more likely to be replaced with expensive robots Actually Japan has several times the number of industrial robots that we have in the U.S. That is one of the ways they can hold their costs down. The reason this is not as big a problem for Japanese workers is that they have far more security with the Japanese system of guaranteed lifetime employment. They do not have to worry as American workers do that automation will mean that they will be directly replaced with a robot. tim sevener whuxl!orb