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| Which will hit North America first? |
| The Volt |
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33% |
[ 1 ] |
| The Revolt |
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66% |
[ 2 ] |
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| Total Votes : 3 |
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Public D
F L I N T O I D
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http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080604/mexico_auto_advantage.html?.v=1
Mexico's auto unions agree to cut wages
Wednesday June 4, 2:03 pm ET
By Mark Stevenson, Associated Press Writer
Race to the bottom: Mexico lowers wages to snare international auto production
MEXICO CITY (AP) -- 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.
And now Mexican wages are being pushed down even more.
Wage concessions were apparently key to convincing 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 of the current wage 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."
The United Auto Workers union had hoped to preserve American jobs by offering a two-tier wage system last fall, cutting starting wages for new U.S. workers by half to about $14.20 an hour. But it hasn't worked -- the jobs are flowing to Mexico, where starting wages at some plants also have been two-tiered, to as little as $1.50 per hour with a lot less of the related pension and health care costs of U.S. workers.
With labor costs like these, Mexico is staying competitive with China, where an average worker at a foreign-owned factory or joint venture can make $2 to $6 per hour. While Mexican benefit costs run higher, Mexico may have already won the low-wage race.
Mexico also now has the advantage of a massive auto production platform based on experience with export plants and proximity to major markets that can't yet be beat in China, whose factories still produce mainly for its own domestic market.
Ford spokeswoman Alejandra Acevedo said she did not know what starting wages for new hires at Cuautitlan would be, but she acknowledged that to win the jobs, the plant had to compete against other Ford facilities worldwide.
"It makes business sense that labor costs are much lower here, and also it's much cheaper here to grow the local supplier network," said Acevedo, noting Mexico's free trade deals help slash the cost of importing parts and exporting cars, Acevedo said.
Other U.S. automakers also are squeezing wages. General Motors said Tuesday it will stop using relatively high-wage workers to assemble slow-selling pickups at its plant in central city of Toluca. A labor leader there said the union had gotten the message, and would offer to work for less to keep the plant alive.
"I think we are going to have to sacrifice something in order to continue to be competitive," said Edgar Arroyo, a union leader at the Toluca General Motors plant, where he estimated some workers earn about $6 per hour, an extremely high rate by Mexican auto industry standards.
Nothing in NAFTA stops this drive to the wage floor. The treaty only requires countries to enforce their own minimum wage laws, which in Mexico means about $5 per day.
Foreign investment in Mexico's auto industry is soaring, averaging about $2 billion per year since the 1990s. Ford's $3 billion investment in the Fiesta project may accelerate that trend.
Auto exports grew by almost 68 percent between 2004 and 2007 to 1.6 million units. Most went to the U.S., but also to European and other Latin American markets.
But since NAFTA's approval in 1993, the gap in overall manufacturing wages between Mexico and the United States has widened slightly, according to government figures.
At Volkswagen's plant in the central city of Puebla, union spokesman Arturo Monter blames low wages on Mexico's antiquated system of labor laws that favor employers and discourage strikes and union organizing.
Unlike in the United States, where a single national union, the UAW, organizes most auto plants, in Mexico unions are deeply split and may only represent workers at one manufacturer, or even at a single plant.
Union leadership at Monter's plant agreed to cut starting wages to $1.50 an hour from $1.95 a few years ago. It can now take as long as seven years to work up to earning what was once the entry-level wage, Monter said.
Still, those lower labor costs helped win a contract for an as-yet unnamed Volkswagen model, known at the plant only as "Project Zero," that the automaker had been considering building in the United States, Monter said.
A VW spokesman declined to comment on production plans, saying only that nothing had yet been confirmed.
Mexico's abundant, youthful work force is still drawn to auto plants despite the low wages, union leaders say, because the firms offer stable employment, a rarity in Mexico's working world.
"Despite the fact that we're negotiating what you could call a cheaper contract, I guarantee you that if we advertise for 2,000 workers, 10,000 people are going to show up," said Sosa Arreola, whose plant sits on the outskirts of Mexico City. |
_________________
http://www.toomuchonline.org/index.html
http://www.hr676.org
http://www.pnhp.org/publications/the_national_health_insurance_bill_hr_676.php |
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Wed Jun 04, 2008 3:05 pm |
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Adam
F L I N T O I D
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http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/06_13/b3977049.htm
How Rising Wages Are Changing The Game In China
A labor shortage has pay soaring. That is sure to send ripples around the globe.
For years, Yongjin Group has earned a decent profit selling lamps and furniture to the likes of Wal-Mart (WMT ), Home Depot (HD ), Target (TGT ), and Pottery Barn. But lately the company has seen its margins shrink to 5% -- half what Yongjin made when it opened its factory in the steamy southern Chinese city of Dongguan 14 years ago. Why? Labor shortages are forcing the company to boost wages. Last year salaries surged 40%, to an average of $160 a month, and Yongjin still can't find enough workers. "This business needs a lot of labor," says President Sam Lin. "This is a very tough challenge."
Some 1,500 miles northeast, in the city of Suzhou, Emerson Climate Technologies Co. is facing similar woes. The maker of air conditioner compressors has seen turnover for some jobs hit 20% annually, and Emerson General Manager David Warth says it's all he can do to keep his 800 employees from jumping ship to Samsung, Siemens (SI ), Nokia (NOK ), and other multinationals that are now operating in the tech manufacturing hub. "It has gotten to the point that we are just swapping folks and raising salaries," says Warth.
Wait a minute. Doesn't China have an inexhaustible supply of cheap labor? Not any longer. From the textile and toy factories of the south to the corporate headquarters and research labs in Beijing and Shanghai, the No. 1 challenge today is finding and keeping good workers. Turnover in some low-tech industries approaches 50%, according to the Institute of Contemporary Observation, a Shenzhen labor research group. Guangdong Province says it has 2.5 million jobs that remain unfilled, while Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Shandong provinces say they, too, face shortages of qualified workers. "Before, people talked about China's unlimited labor supply," says Zhang Juwei, deputy director of the Institute of Population & Labor Economics at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing. "We should revise that: China is facing a limited supply of labor." |
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Wed Jun 04, 2008 4:03 pm |
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Adam
F L I N T O I D
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The UAW's concessions may also cause hardship for non-union right to work Toyota employees.
http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-163523845.html
Since they began operating U.S. auto factories in the early 1980s, the nonunion Asian and European transplants have kept their wages within a few dollars of those paid by the Detroit 3 to UAW work forces.
But that long-standing practice is under some pressure now. Toyota Motor Corp. and some other transplant automakers are slipping into lower wage rates at their newer plants, widening the gap between their hourly rates and those earned by workers at the Detroit 3.
At the 19-year-old Toyota plant in Georgetown, Ky., workers earn about $25 an hour, plus bonuses, compared with about $27 an hour for UAW workers at the Detroit 3. |
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Wed Jun 04, 2008 4:30 pm |
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Public D
F L I N T O I D
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quote:
Adam schreef:
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/06_13/b3977049.htm
How Rising Wages Are Changing The Game In China
A labor shortage has pay soaring. That is sure to send ripples around the globe.
For years, Yongjin Group has earned a decent profit selling lamps and furniture to the likes of Wal-Mart (WMT ), Home Depot (HD ), Target (TGT ), and Pottery Barn. But lately the company has seen its margins shrink to 5% -- half what Yongjin made when it opened its factory in the steamy southern Chinese city of Dongguan 14 years ago. Why? Labor shortages are forcing the company to boost wages. Last year salaries surged 40%, to an average of $160 a month, and Yongjin still can't find enough workers. "This business needs a lot of labor," says President Sam Lin. "This is a very tough challenge."
Some 1,500 miles northeast, in the city of Suzhou, Emerson Climate Technologies Co. is facing similar woes. The maker of air conditioner compressors has seen turnover for some jobs hit 20% annually, and Emerson General Manager David Warth says it's all he can do to keep his 800 employees from jumping ship to Samsung, Siemens (SI ), Nokia (NOK ), and other multinationals that are now operating in the tech manufacturing hub. "It has gotten to the point that we are just swapping folks and raising salaries," says Warth.
Wait a minute. Doesn't China have an inexhaustible supply of cheap labor? Not any longer. From the textile and toy factories of the south to the corporate headquarters and research labs in Beijing and Shanghai, the No. 1 challenge today is finding and keeping good workers. Turnover in some low-tech industries approaches 50%, according to the Institute of Contemporary Observation, a Shenzhen labor research group. Guangdong Province says it has 2.5 million jobs that remain unfilled, while Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Shandong provinces say they, too, face shortages of qualified workers. "Before, people talked about China's unlimited labor supply," says Zhang Juwei, deputy director of the Institute of Population & Labor Economics at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing. "We should revise that: China is facing a limited supply of labor."
Thanks for the two-year old Business Week response, Adam. Feel better? I thought you'd at least construe this as an unfair stress on overworked Minute Men. Oh well.
"Mexico is staying competitive with China, where an average worker at a foreign-owned factory or joint venture can make $2 to $6 per hour."
Guess that 40% surge in Chinese wages (1¢ to 40¢ ?) a few years ago will have to be given back in order to save Chinese jobs. Wouldn't want to risk losing those jobs to Mexico, right? And the pitting of worker against worker goes on. You call it world progress. The world calls it exploitation.
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/01/04/business/sweatshop.php |
_________________
http://www.toomuchonline.org/index.html
http://www.hr676.org
http://www.pnhp.org/publications/the_national_health_insurance_bill_hr_676.php |
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Wed Jun 04, 2008 4:52 pm |
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Public D
F L I N T O I D
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Wed Jun 04, 2008 5:02 pm |
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Adam
F L I N T O I D
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quote:
Public D schreef:
Thanks for the two-year old Business Week response, Adam. Feel better? I thought you'd at least construe this as an unfair stress on overworked Minute Men. Oh well.
"Mexico is staying competitive with China, where an average worker at a foreign-owned factory or joint venture can make $2 to $6 per hour."
Guess that 40% surge in Chinese wages (1¢ to 40¢ ?) a few years ago will have to be given back in order to save Chinese jobs. Wouldn't want to risk losing those jobs to Mexico, right? And the pitting of worker against worker goes on. You call it world progress. The world calls it exploitation.
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/01/04/business/sweatshop.php
The problem is we are in a global economy. We are doing good at competing with China on steel but the feel good liberal strategies that people like Obama promote will be almost useless. We need to cut taxes and cut our deficit spending and practically dismantle our military cut social welfare and corporate welfare so we can be more competitive.
Wages in India are rising. http://mjperry.blogspot.com/2008/06/1970-to-2000-poor-got-richer-and-rich.html
If we end up haviing to fully compete in the global marketplace there could be serious problems.
http://mjperry.blogspot.com/2008/06/how-rich-are-you-even-minimum-wage.html |
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Wed Jun 04, 2008 5:05 pm |
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Adam
F L I N T O I D
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quote:
Public D schreef:
quote:
Adam schreef:
The UAW's concessions may also cause hardship for non-union right to work Toyota employees.
Right. When union wages are cut in half. Non-union wages at Toyota or Honda are cut in half and then some. There is nothing stopping them and everything pushing them.
Toyota workers may see their any raises decrease or be completely eliminated. |
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Wed Jun 04, 2008 5:09 pm |
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Public D
F L I N T O I D
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quote:
Adam schreef:
The problem is we are in a global economy. We are doing good at competing with China on steel but the feel good liberal strategies that people like Obama promote will be almost useless.
What feel-good strategies? Like not bowing to the endless demands from PROFITABLE corporations to give them more wage concessions, less regulation, more tax breaks, no retirement obligations, (scot) free trade, no environmental clean up obligations, more millions for executives, etc., etc.?
What's sad is that these are the very things you describe as a 'solution?!' When most of the world understands that company-first strategies are the cause of the economic, environmental, energy, equality problems we see all over the world today.
Republicans and neo-liberals need a new economic game to play. King of the Mountain means nothing when you destroy the mountain and every one on it in the process.
Feel good? Hardly. |
_________________
http://www.toomuchonline.org/index.html
http://www.hr676.org
http://www.pnhp.org/publications/the_national_health_insurance_bill_hr_676.php |
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Thu Jun 05, 2008 11:23 am |
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Adam Ford
F L I N T O I D
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quote:
Public D schreef:
What feel-good strategies? Like not bowing to the endless demands from PROFITABLE corporations to give them more wage concessions, less regulation, more tax breaks, no retirement obligations, (scot) free trade, no environmental clean up obligations, more millions for executives, etc., etc.?
What's sad is that these are the very things you describe as a 'solution?!' When most of the world understands that company-first strategies are the cause of the economic, environmental, energy, equality problems we see all over the world today.
Republicans and neo-liberals need a new economic game to play. King of the Mountain means nothing when you destroy the mountain and every one on it in the process.
Feel good? Hardly.
I'd rather bow to the demands of PROFITABLE corporations than subsidize unprofitable corporations like liberals in Michigan seem to support. We should cut citizens taxes as much if not more than corporations.
I think not taxing America's hard working families is a pretty good solution. Although liberals like you might want to "help out" America's families by stealing more of their money so you can decide what kind of health care they will be able to get our current federal budget averages $40,000 stolen from a family of four. For $40,000 would help out most American families immensely. I'm not an anarchist but I think the government could at least steal 5 or $10,000 less from America's hard working middle class families.
I do support property rights and am right to life. Corporations/people responsible for damaging the environment/causing death should be held criminally and/or financially responsible depending on the circumstances. We should make better use of our legal system to deal with property/polution crimes. Unfortunately our criminal justice/courts systems are so busy going after those "evil" marijuana users. If citizens were better educated we wouldn't feed feel good legislators to have to try and protect them from the corporations. Unfortunately most averagecitizens probably know less about the court system than the average criminal. |
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Thu Jun 05, 2008 11:54 am |
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Public D
F L I N T O I D
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Thu Jun 05, 2008 12:42 pm |
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twotap
F L I N T O I D
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I kind of agree with ya PD ( whats your definition of rich)???but the big story of the day happens to be that Rosie is gonna wait to remarry  Kelli jeez  right up there with the latest American idol winner. |
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Thu Jun 05, 2008 5:46 pm |
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Adam Ford
F L I N T O I D
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quote:
Public D schreef:
I'm all for giving working people a tax break. I'm all for a tax hike on the richest of the rich - individuals & corporations. I'm all for national health care that doesn't 'steal' money from 'hard working America's families.' It could easily be funded with the money already stolen from us by corporations (via tax incentives, wage freezes/cuts, benefits, etc.) and the fruitless, endless and groundless wars against drugs, labor, restless leg syndrome, Iraq, etc.
I don't think we should need to raise taxes on the rich. If we stopped policing the world the government could use the savings to stop stealing from middle class families as much and they could buy their own health care. I don't think people who make under $50,000 a year should have to pay any income taxes. Our $3 trillion dollar government should be slashed dramatically not expanded. We do not need more government to take care of us by stealing from us we need less government so we can afford to take care of ourselves.
I know your intentons are good by wanting to go after the rich and corporations but if we go after them too much they may leave or go out of business or become bankrupt. Already Ameica is falling behind wealthwise. Without the rich and our corporations we would not be able to fund things like social security medicare foodstamps and education which is the situation we are heading towards.
The AMA union, drug industry and FDA also hold Americans hostage by dramatically increasing health care costs. |
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Thu Jun 05, 2008 6:05 pm |
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twotap
F L I N T O I D
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| Anytime I hear lets get the rich I am assuming those pushing such an idea actually believe that its a zero sum gain. Only so many dollars available and if those that are successful have to many their aint any left for the rest. Total BS. But it sure does sound good to the sheeple.
Ya thats it lets get the rich.
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Thu Jun 05, 2008 6:16 pm |
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Public D
F L I N T O I D
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With all due respect, Adam, that's total bull shit. They owe us. We know it. They know it. If they can't hack it in business without ransacking their workforce, customers, investors, public, planet and the future, they have my blessing to fold up shop and get a service sector job flipping burgers and praying that the knowledge economy will save them from minimum wage bleakness like the rest of the people they've systematically screwed for the last 30 years. They can cry poor all they want. They love to. Shit's so screwed up that they have financial incentive to. See Delphi:
http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/shotwell280106.html
Declaring bankruptcy in the U.S. to justify slashing wages, gutting benefits, busting the union, setting the stage for all of big auto to follow suit, crying that they need similar 'help' from their workers. Meanwhile, they shelter record profits, investment and its biggest assets overseas – so that the bankruptcy can move forward here, and be held as a club over workers' heads as justification for more and more concessions. Global finance laws have not caught up with global finance schemes and the other 'benefits' globalization reaps for the maniacal few.
It's helpful to remember:
Money doesn't disappear. It changes hands – or is made to appear to. |
_________________
http://www.toomuchonline.org/index.html
http://www.hr676.org
http://www.pnhp.org/publications/the_national_health_insurance_bill_hr_676.php |
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Fri Jun 06, 2008 10:52 am |
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Adam Ford
F L I N T O I D
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quote:
Public D schreef:
With all due respect, Adam, that's total bull shit. They owe us. We know it. They know it. If they can't hack it in business without ransacking their workforce, customers, investors, public, planet and the future, they have my blessing to fold up shop and get a service sector job flipping burgers and praying that the knowledge economy will save them from minimum wage bleakness like the rest of the people they've systematically screwed for the last 30 years. They can cry poor all they want. They love to. Shit's so screwed up that they have financial incentive to. See Delphi:
http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/shotwell280106.html
Declaring bankruptcy in the U.S. to justify slashing wages, gutting benefits, busting the union, setting the stage for all of big auto to follow suit, crying that they need similar 'help' from their workers. Meanwhile, they shelter record profits, investment and its biggest assets overseas – so that the bankruptcy can move forward here, and be held as a club over workers' heads as justification for more and more concessions. Global finance laws have not caught up with global finance schemes and the other 'benefits' globalization reaps for the maniacal few.
It's helpful to remember:
Money doesn't disappear. It changes hands – or is made to appear to.
If Delphi and GM would have went bankrupt and closed shop would that make you happier? The problem is not the ready and rich in America the problem is China and India are becoming greedy and rich and their more conservative, "greedy and rich" economies can wipe us out.
If I thought Delphi was doing as good as you allege I would be interested in owning some of their stock. I think they may be private now but even if they were public I'm unconvenced Delphi would be a wise investment.
With the the "evil" greedy cuthroat economies of China and India beginning to come online liberals like you should feel happy when gas and food skyrockets so Americans can be more eco freindly and not eat as much and not drive.
With the federal reserve, fractionnal reserve banking and derivative financial industry money and credit can disapeer or be created. Credit (money) has currently vanished from the U.S. which is similar to what happened right before the last Great Depression. |
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Fri Jun 06, 2008 11:16 am |
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