Re: Sen. McGovern on income distribution

[raghu <mraghu01@xxxxxxxxx>]

> Delphi Corp., the biggest auto parts supplier in the country and the
> employer of 34,000 hourly workers, is bankrupt. One big reason is that
> the company's unionized workers earn $64 an hour in wages and benefits —
> more than twice what some of its competitors pay.


I am surprised that not too many people have questioned this claim of
the $64.00 per hour figure. Didn't Delphi do some creative accounting
to come up with this figure?

http://www.kucinich.us/floor_speeches/work_delphi_myth5apr.php

--------------------snip
"But the discussion about the auto industry is not served when certain
individuals mischaracterize the actual labor costs. There is a myth
put forward by the CEO of Delphi about the overpaid auto workers. He
is claiming that $65 per hour is a typical wage Delphi pays for blue
color labor. The problem is Delphi doesn't pay $65 an hour. Rather,
this figure is a creation of Delphi's media consultants and it lumps
together all of Delphi's labor costs and payments to unemployed and
retired workers, but falsely allocates them only to Delphi's much
smaller workforce. That inflates the average labor cost.

Actual average wage for current Delphi workers is about $23 per hour.
So whatever Delphi's financial problems, one thing that is not a cause
is workers earning $65 per hour. And it is misleading of Delphi's CEO
to say otherwise.
--------------------snip