Harrumph Strikers

The United Auto Workers strike is on day four with union members saying that record corporate profits should yield a record contract. The executives of the big three auto companies, Ford, General Motors, and Stellanis, are digging in.

UAW President Shawn Fain told NPR, “We went backwards roughly $10 an hour in wages over the last six years. At the same time, in the last decade, these companies have made a quarter trillion dollars in profits.”

Over the past decade, the big three auto companies have posted a net income of $164 billion with $20 billion of it from this year (so far).

The workers are asking for a 36 percent pay increase, the restoration of traditional defined-benefit pensions for new hires who now receive only 401(k)-style retirement plans, cost of living adjustments, and quality of life improvements. They were originally asking for a 40 percent increase to match what Fain claims is the increase in executive salaries. Since 2019, UAW workers have received pay raises of only six percent. Newer hires don’t receive the same benefits as older hires.

General Motors CEO Mary Barra, who has been in her position since 2019, said, “I don’t know where the 40% came from,” as her pay has increased “only” 34 percent. Her compensation package in 2022 was worth $28.98 million with $14.62 million in stock grants. She’s not starving.

Ford CEO James Farley received nearly $21 million in total compensation in 2022, a 21 percent increase over the $17.4 million then-CEO Jim Hackett received in 2019, according to the company’s proxy statements. Farley’s compensation included $15.14 million in stock awards.

Stellantis is a European company and it formed in 2021 with the merger of Italian-American conglomerate Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and French PSA Group. Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares’ compensation package was 23.46 million euros which is a 77 percent increase over then Fiat Chrysler CEO Mike Manley’s 2019 pay of 13.28 million euros.

Here are some fun facts gathered today from the Associated Press: At GM, the median worker pay was $80,034 in 2022. It would take that worker 362 years to make Barra’s annual compensation. At Ford, where the median pay was $74,691, it would take 281 years to meet the CEO’s pay. At Stellantis, with a median pay of 64,328 euros, it would take 365 years to meet the CEO’s pay. The pay ratio between auto workers and executives is 298-1.

The typical pay gap at S&P 500 companies is 186-1. In 1965, it was 15-1.

Over at Tesla, where workers are not unioned with some being fired for trying, workers make a little under $41,000 a year while its CEO, Elon Musk, received a “realized compensation” package in 2021 of over $737 million. Here’s another fun fact: Elon Musk is an asshole. It would take a Tesla worker 18,000 years to match Elon’s pay.

The big three auto companies have made offers of 20 percent raises to UAW workers over the next few years. Those offers have been rejected.

UAW workers aren’t even asking to be given a 36 percent increase immediately. They’re asking for that to be delivered over the next four years. Now, who’s being greedy in this fight, the workers or the executives?

If you said the workers, then you’re probably a right-wing goon who always sides with the rich.

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