UAW's Real Earnings

A few days ago I had a conversation with one of my colleagues who had been told that UAW members make an outrageous $70 an hour, sometimes for merely putting a tire on a car. I don't blame people for believing this, as many people are unaware of the automobile industry. We like to get in our cars, start 'em, and go, no questions asked. However, immediately a red flag went up. As I said in one of yesterday's posts, I have worked in the automobile industry and know that we were never paid that ridiculous amount. Therefore, my exact words to my colleague were, "That sounds like anti-union rhetoric." Well, surfing the blogosphere today, I came across a post by Ezra Klein in which he writes:

The $70 an hour came from dividing total compensation costs by the current workforce. But of course, lots of those compensation costs are attached -- or were attached, before last year's UAW concessions -- to retirees. The truth is that current workers make about $24 an hour, plus another $10 in compensation. That's about $60,000 a year, with good benefits. It's a solid, middle class life. A helluva lot less than Joe the Plumber pulled in. But the $70 number isn't tossed around because it's accurate. It's deployed because it's useful. It recasts the story of the American auto industry as a morality tale in which greedy unions sit as the villain.

This sounds about right, and I'm pleased Ezra set the record straight. We've all heard the stories of Unions protecting bad workers and driving up compensation costs to the point that it destroys the company. However, that's a myth. I'd like to know why we are not talking about CEOs' exorbitant salaries, their stock options, or why Ford, GM, and Chrysler still insist on making over-priced, gas-guzzling SUV's that the majority of Americans can't afford?