Auto Worker “Parity” and the Corruption of America’s Political Elite

[Joanne98]

It is a sign of the moral depravity of America’s political elite and the media’s complicity in their crimes that the widely accepted view of the US auto industry is that Detroit’s auto workers are paid too much, while everyone who benefited when financial charlatans ripped off America’s economy for trillions of dollars are taxed too much.

The media’s latest “heroes” are politicians like Bob Corker who demand that some auto workers accept “parity” with those who, he claims, make even less. Or men like Mitch McConnell, who said on the Senate floor, “None of us want to see them go down, but very few of us had anything to do with the dilemma that they've created for themselves.” These men are not heroes; they are scoundrels.

We are being asked to accept without thinking the perverted notion that “parity” is a moral principle that requires those who have earned and bargained for a decent share of America’s wealth be forced to accept the wages and benefits of those who live in states with discriminatory, anti-labor laws expressly designed to keep wages low. That notion will only ensure that workers never receives their fair share of the wealth they create for their domestic or foreign-owned companies.

Never mind that, as Jane and Marcy have pointed out, the specific claim of "dis-parity" is bogus here; the logic of "parity" is the same whether the lower-wage workers are in Tennessee, Alabama or Thailand. For the hapless workers on all sides, the principle means a race to the bottom that would warm the hearts and fatten the bank accounts of any 19th Century robber baron.

It does not seem to have occurred to our Government or our media that workers who produce things of value are entitled to a decent living, that they are entitled to a fairer share of the wealth they create for everyone else. Nor has it occurred to our elites that the only reason our most productive workers ever come close to receiving their fair share of the wealth they create for others is because of collective bargaining, even though the empirical evidence of lower wages and benefits is readily available in the laws and wage statistics of every state with anti-union laws.

http://oxdown.firedoglake.com/diary/2409

[Hugin]

1. So, they do want a return to slavery then?

Isn't that what it means to return to 'parity' with countries which employ slave labor?

Man, these guys aren't even hiding it anymore.

[acmavm]

5. No they're not hiding a damn thing. Their obvious support for Wall Street

over the American worker and the American economy should be enough to send the repubican party the way of the Whigs and Tories.

[JDPriestly]

2. So, if UAW workers should only receive the same monetary incentives for their work as

their counterparts in Japanese and Korean companies, shouldn't the CEOs of the American companies also only receive the same monetary incentives for their work as their Japanese and Korean counterparts. Seems like what is good for the gander is good for the goose.

[TripleKatPad]

3. Ok, I get it

Republican Senators (plus graft) plus CEO salaries (and bonuses and golden parachutes) divided by their net value to citizens plus the COLA I received this year.... let me get out my calculator.... carry one...less two...exponential factor ten....

Got it.

As a non-elite, I can expect to lose a goodly chunk of my salary, if not my job, to support the criminal Republican mandate.

Whew! I feel so much better now that I understand.

//end snark

[HillWilliam]

4. I'll say it again

The UAW need only accept a cut in wages and benefits after and if and only if Congress agrees to the same. If Congress wants to style itself as a group of leaders, the by-dawg let them lead by example. Otherwise, game over.