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Detroit 3 ready to hire $14-an-hour staff

Detroit 3 ready to hire $14-an-hour staff

Kenneth Hall February 20th, 2008 Kenneth Hall By Kenneth Hall Author February 20th, 2008
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December 31st, 1969 America’s three major carmakers may soon get the break they’ve been waiting for with news that employees paid just $14-an-hour will be joining the ranks in less than a year. All three brands - Chrysler, Ford and GM - are expected to hire about 36,000 hourly and salaried staff in Michigan over the next four years to replace people who have agreed to take voluntary buyouts or are retiring. Unions and the carmakers agreed to the deal after a number of strikes last year, which affected more than 74,000 workers. Because of the buyouts, GM ended up posting a record $38.7-billion loss for 2007 and Ford and Chrysler would have suffered substantial losses as well. The $14-an-hour rate is about half of what is currently paid and it works out to be even less when you consider the fact that it doesn’t include retiree health care benefits or a defined pension. The low rate only covers ‘non-assembly’ jobs and officials are yet to announce which jobs will be considered non-assembly and which ones won’t. Since 1999, Michigan auto industry jobs fell from highs of 316,300 to around 129,000 at the end of last year. With the new rules in place, carmakers are set to hire about 19,000 workers as early as next year and another 5,000 in 2010. By 2016, this figure is expected to jump to 77,000.
Detroit 3 ready to hire $14-an-hour staff

Detroit 3 ready to hire $14-an-hour staff

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America’s three major carmakers may soon get the break they’ve been waiting for with news that employees paid just $14-an-hour will be joining the ranks in less than a year. All three brands - Chrysler, Ford and GM - are expected to hire about 36,000 hourly and salaried staff in Michigan over the next four years to replace people who have agreed to take voluntary buyouts or are retiring.

Unions and the carmakers agreed to the deal after a number of strikes last year, which affected more than 74,000 workers. Because of the buyouts, GM ended up posting a record $38.7-billion loss for 2007 and Ford and Chrysler would have suffered substantial losses as well.

The $14-an-hour rate is about half of what is currently paid and it works out to be even less when you consider the fact that it doesn’t include retiree health care benefits or a defined pension. The low rate only covers ‘non-assembly’ jobs and officials are yet to announce which jobs will be considered non-assembly and which ones won’t.

Since 1999, Michigan auto industry jobs fell from highs of 316,300 to around 129,000 at the end of last year. With the new rules in place, carmakers are set to hire about 19,000 workers as early as next year and another 5,000 in 2010. By 2016, this figure is expected to jump to 77,000.

Tags: Industry, General Motors

Posted in: Chrysler, Ford, News


Comments (5 total)

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  1. By emad #1, Posted: 2/21/2008

    how can i apply to work there?

  2. By peste #2, Posted: 2/21/2008

    this should definitely motivate workers to produce the highest quality cars with the most attention paid to detail!

  3. By SuperSkyline89 #3, Posted: 2/21/2008

    Well, the highly paid unionized workers weren't motivated to build high quality cars either so why not just get new ones and pay them less?

  4. By Zach #4, Posted: 2/22/2008

    I know working $14/hour on an assembly line isn't much, but with as bad as the economy is in Michigan, with unemployment almost at 8% (worse than any other state, by far) I'm sure the big three (and their suppliers who were also letting go of workers) will have high response to the people who took buyouts or got laid off and realized how hard it is to find a job with their qualifications.

  5. By tammy radzialowski #5, Posted: 6/5/2008

    how can i apply to work at the big three ?

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