The myth of the over-paid union auto worker

In a prepared statement for his December 4, 2008, appearance before the Senate Banking Committee, UAW President Ron Gettelfinger said:

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 The $73 an hour figure is outdated and inaccurate.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."

Yet, both the Big Three CEOs (for whom over-compensation IS the shoe that fits), abetted by the media, continue to promote this fiction in an effort to cast the blame of their titanic mis-management and poor strategic decisions on the people whose job it is to put together their low quality products, not design them. Here is a fine review article from Media Matters for America.