Wages and labor costs
How many UAW members work at the companies that will be part of this year’s auto talks?
There are more than 302,000 UAW members at DaimlerChrysler, Delphi, Ford, General Motors and Visteon. Of these, 291,510 participate in the national agreements that will expire on Sept. 14, 2003. The remaining 10,990 UAW members at DaimlerChrysler Jeep, Ford-ZF Batavia and GM-Saturn negotiate respective local contracts distinct from the national agreements.
An additional 369,810 retired members and 105,420 surviving spouses will also be covered by the agreements negotiated this year. Their pension payments and retiree health care benefits are subject to the terms of UAW national auto industry agreements.
| Employer | Active Members |
Retired Members |
Surviving Spouses |
Totals |
| DaimlerChrysler | 60,170 | 57,490 | 17,580 | 135,240 |
| Ford | 72,570 | 77,460 | 24,220 | 174,250 |
| Visteon | 21,880 | inc. in Ford Retirees | inc. in Ford Spouses | 21,880 |
| General Motors | 117,780 | 228,550 | 63,480 | 409,810 |
| Delphi | 30,100 | 6,310 | 140 | 36,550 |
| Totals | 302,500 | 369,810 | 105,420 | 777,730 |
| Source: United Auto Workers. Figures are for the end of the first quarter, 2003. Visteon total includes 21,260 workers who are lifetime employees of Ford, per the 1999 UAW-Ford agreement. Active membership includes 4,400 members at DaimlerChrysler Jeep, 690 members at Ford-ZF Batavia and 5,900 UAW members at GM-Saturn who negotiate labor agreements distinct from UAW national agreements. | ||||
How much are current UAW auto industry wages?
As of the second quarter of 2003, a UAW-represented assembler earns $25.63 per hour of straight time. A typical UAW-represented skilled-trades worker earns $29.75 per hour of straight time. Between 1992 and 2002, inflation-adjusted real wages for UAW-represented autoworkers increased by 13.5 percent. This is a compounded annual pay increase, after inflation, of 1.28 percent.
Inflation-adjusted wages,
UAW assembler
| Year | Wage |
| 1992 | 21.64 |
| 1993 | 21.79 |
| 1994 | 21.93 |
| 1995 | 21.78 |
| 1996 | 21.60 |
| 1997 | 21.73 |
| 1998 | 22.46 |
| 1999 | 22.93 |
| 2000 | 23.25 |
| 2001 | 23.95 |
| 2002 | 24.58 |
| Source: United Auto
Workers. Wages in constant 2002 dollars. |
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Executive pay at UAW employers in the auto industry, meanwhile, has increased by 22 percent during the past four years. (These figures do not include DaimlerChrysler. As a German company, it is not required to report executive compensation.)
Average salary, bonus and other compensation for the top five executives at Delphi, Ford, General Motors and Visteon in 2002 was more than $1.5 million. This substantial sum, which does not include the value of stock options, was achieved even though Ford and GM – in the midst of sales slumps – did not pay any executive bonuses last year, and the CEO of Ford did not receive a salary in 2002.
Delphi paid more than $5 million in bonuses to its top five executives in 2002, while Visteon paid out more than $1.5 million. On average, the two firms paid $334,043 in bonuses to each top executive in 2002. This sum is 1,670 times greater than the average $200 profit-sharing payment received by UAW members at Delphi and Visteon.
Why is the figure cited as hourly labor costs by the companies so much higher than the wage rates?
Wage rates are how much a worker gets paid per hour of straight-time work.
The labor cost figures cited by the companies include overtime, shift premiums and other expenses associated with having a person on a payroll. This includes the costs of negotiated benefits such as health care, pensions, education and training and prepaid legal services. It also includes statutory costs, which employers are required to pay by law, such as federal contributions for Social Security and Medicare, and state payments to workers’ compensation and unemployment insurance funds.
While wage rates are virtually identical for all five companies covered by UAW auto industry contracts, total labor costs vary considerably. This is because the cost of retirement and health care benefits varies with the age and composition of a particular workforce, and with the number of retirees from that company. The amount of overtime worked at the different companies also affects their labor costs.
