Union plants win top productivity rankings

During intense debate about aid for the auto industry in Washington, UAW critics insisted UAW work rules must be changed so that Chrysler, Ford and GM plants could match the “efficiency” of nonunion foreign nameplate operations.

President Bush, apparently convinced by this argument, called for modifying union work rules as one of the “targets” in the emergency loan package for automakers approved on Dec. 19.

In fact, the latest industry data show members of the UAW and the Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) are already more efficient and productive than their nonunion counterparts.

According to the Harbour Report, the industry standard for evaluating auto plant productivity:

• Top 10 plants are union plants: Every one of the top 10 most productive auto plants in North America is a UAW or CAW-represented plant.

• Eight of nine segment leaders are union plants: When compared by vehicle segments – small cars vs. small cars, mid-size cars vs. mid-size cars, pickups vs. pickups – workers in union plants assemble a vehicle using less person hours than nonunion workers in eight out of nine vehicle segments. For example, in 2007:

Small cars

UAW members assembled a Dodge Caliber in Belvidere, Ill., in 17 hours. In Cambridge Ontario, assembly time for a Toyota Camry was 24.96 hours.

The union difference: 7.96 fewer hours per vehicle.

Mid-size cars

CAW members assembled a Pontiac Grand Prix or Buick LaCrosse in Oshawa, Ont., in 17.18 hours. In Georgetown Ky., assembly time for a Toyota Camry was 19.79 hours.

The union difference: 2.61 fewer hours per vehicle.

Pickups

UAW members assembled a Ford F-series pickup in Kansas City in 19.19 hours. In Princeton, Ind., assembly time for a Toyota Tundra was 31.92 hours.

The union difference: 12.73 hours fewer hours per vehicle.

Bottom line: If efficiency is the goal, nonunion plants need to borrow a page from UAW and CAW plants – not the other way around.

Source: The Harbour Report North America, 2008. Media release, June 5, 2008; 2007 Car Assembly Plant, Ranking by Vehicle Segment, Hours Per Vehicle. www.oliverwyman.com/ow/automotive.htm

January / February 2009

Heard the one about
the $73-an-hour autoworker?

In recent weeks, some media commentators referred to a mythical autoworker who earns $73 an hour. But you will never meet such a person – because no such person exists, as UAW President Ron Gettelfinger explained in his testimony Dec. 5 to the U.S. Senate Banking Committee:

“The UAW vigorously opposes any attempt to make workers and retirees the scapegoats and to make them shoulder the entire burden of any restructuring. Wages and benefits only make up 10 percent of the costs of the domestic auto companies. So the current difficulties facing the Detroit-based auto companies cannot be blamed on workers and retirees.

“Contrary to an often-repeated myth, UAW members at GM, Ford and Chrysler are not paid $73 an hour. The truth is, wages for UAW members range from about $14 per hour for newly hired workers to $28 per hour for assemblers. The $73 an hour figure is outdated and inaccurate. It includes not only the costs of health care, pensions and other compensation for current workers, but also includes the costs of pensions and health care for all of the retired workers, spread out over the active workforce. Obviously, active workers do not receive any of this compensation, so it is simply not accurate to describe it as part of their ‘earnings.’ Furthermore … the overall labor costs at the Detroit-based auto companies were dramatically lowered by the changes in the 2005 and 2007 contracts, which largely or completely eliminated the gap with the foreign transplant operations.”