Can we edit titles to better reflect the info or is it strictly to match the article? 5.25% raises per year is definitely different than a “21% pay hike”.
The UAW holds all the cards here. They can’t make new cars without a trained labor force and they don’t have the time or the money to train a new one. So the auto industry might think about playing ball.
I remember when I worked for a Union and our members were a little split on the 8% raise we were offered. I reminded them that over the terms of the last contract, inflation had risen over 10% and that 8% was still a pay cut.
For anyone that wants to say 21% is a ton, remember this is over the 4 year contract. This is the equivalent of 5% a year. Also, the last 3 years alone, there has been 18% inflation, and the last contract just didn’t keep up with that.
And IIRC this is after making a bunch of concessions during the previous contract negotiation where they forgoed pay raises which was only supposed to be a temporary measure. This was nearly a decade ago.
Yep it seems like when times are tough, these companies want to claw back whatever money they can. When times are good, these companies want to claw back whatever money they can.
This trend of news outlets reporting multi year raises as just “x%” is infuriating and very good manipulation on the part of the CEOs. They know most people won’t read on to see the difference.
It’s not a trend. It’s a calculated tactic to split the ignorant people who dont pay attention from the working class who do. They hear “21% raise?! I’d give my left nut for that! Fuck these greedy fucks!” and not realize it’s over the life of the contract.
"United Auto Workers president Shawn Fain said Sunday that the union is rejecting an offer from one of the Big Three automakers for a 21% wage increase as autoworkers for Ford, General Motors and Chrysler parent company Stellantis went on strike Friday,” CBS News reports.
"The union has asked for 40% pay increases to match the average pay increases of the CEOs1
For context - the 21% number would not be any immediate raise - it would be cumulative over a 3+ year period.And it would come after an extended period when wages have fallen behind living costs, and after the UAW gave up wages and benefits to keep Detroit afloat when it was struggling.
The story quotes Fain with this: "“First off, labor costs are about 5% of the cost of the vehicle. They could double our wages and not raise the price of the vehicles and still make billions in profits. It’s a choice. And the fact that they want to compare it to how pitiful Tesla pays their workers and other companies pay their workers — that’s what this whole argument is about. Workers in this country got to decide if they want a better life for themselves, instead of scraping to get by paycheck to paycheck, while everybody else walks away with the loot.”
I almost commented by saying that a 21% pay increase is HUGE. Then I read the article and found the 40% pay increase for CEOs. That’s so fucking insane.
21% barely matches current inflation and this increase would be over multiple years. During this period, inflation should go up, unless we hit a major recession.
In other words, 21% isn’t even a raise in actual spending power compared to pre-pandemic wages.
The middle class is made up of managers, supervisors, and directors. Not workers.
EDIT Y’all are downvoting me, but what do you think the “middle” part of “middle class” stands for? They’re the people between the working class and the owning class! That’s what makes them middle class. That was lost over time because class politics are alien in America.
Do you seriously not notice that right there between the upper and lower class are the managers, supervisors, and directors? The middle class are a financial class, but that’s because they’re also a class with a distinct relation to the means of production. The workers are the ones that do the work, the owners are the ones that reap the profits, and the middle class are the ones that control the workers. They’re a special managerial class elevated above workers with special privileges and responsibilities, but they’re also always employees of the actual ruling class.
Then dumbass Americans just smeared everything together and now everyone says they’re middle class, whether they’re poor or rich lol
Literally just the wikipedia page about the middle class lol
Yes, “middle income” is also an accepted definition, but it’s a shitty definition because it doesn’t mean anything! Income is dependent on markets as much as it is on social structures, and the “middleness” of income is as much of a feeling as it is based in literal dollars. That’s why everyone calls themselves middle class regardless of their actual place in the socioeconomic hierarchy.
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