As token gestures go, this one is particularly insulting. Executives at Delphi, the financially troubled auto parts producer that was spun off from GM a few years ago, are voluntarily cutting their million dollar salaries by as much as 20% as the company goes through bankruptcy procedures and seeks to void its union contracts and slash the pay of its workers by as much as two-thirds. This magnanimous act was meant to make up for the previously announced (now retracted) executive bonuses meant to “entice” these brilliant captains of industry to remain with the company through the hard times that they caused.
The workers at Delphi make around $26 an hour. The business community likes to toss around the figure of $70 an hour, which would include the cost of payments for medical insurance, pension funds and other benefits. Delphi says these wages make the company uncompetitive, as similar workers in Mexico make one tenth of that. They probably wager that the public at large aren’t as sympathetic to these greedy union members who make too much money.
Well, think about this. $26 an hour probably translates to around $50,000 annually, more with overtime. That’s enough to support a family, maybe buy a house and have some expectation to send your kids to college. That’s not wealthy, folks. That’s not too much money. That’s the elusive American Dream. Ten dollars an hour, on the other hand, would result in an annual income that would qualify for the Earned Income Tax Credit. For welfare, in other words. That’s the kind of change that the two-thirds pay cut that Delphi’s executives seek would produce in their workers: from the middle class to the welfare line.
What kind of sacrifice does a 10% reduction of a million dollar salary produce? One less trip to Paris? A smaller yacht? Delphi’s token gesture towards shared sacrifice is a total insult, and it makes my Bolshevik blood boil. How about a 10% reduction of their actual persons, starting right at the top. Off with their heads!
where is my eitc check!??!?! the one benefit of being old (over 25) in my poverty.
and why didnt i get to get it at 24? did they think i was living at home? did they think i didnt have insane doctor bills that year.
blow me mr mayor
ok
breath
breath
During my time as a union worker in a hot forging factory, we had a massive series of layoffs where I was forced to go from 16.00 an hour to just over 10.00 in a different department. While I was happy to keep some sort of job, this was very devastating. Slashing the Dephi workers pay like that would kill them. Personally, it meant losing my vehicle and eventually my home. I think alot of folks don’t realize what that time of cut in pay can do. The corporate thieves that offer their own executive pay cut demonstrate this blatant slap in the face to workers all over. Believe me they won’t be loosing any cars or homes over it.
“Well, think about this. $26 an hour probably translates to around $50,000 annually, more with overtime. That’s enough to support a family, maybe buy a house and have some expectation to send your kids to college. That’s not wealthy, folks. That’s not too much money. That’s the elusive American Dream. Ten dollars an hour, on the other hand, would result in an annual income that would qualify for the Earned Income Tax Credit.”