more auto bailing

Having grown up in a very pro-union household, I have not been able to be completely against the auto bailout. Not only am I opposed to the idea of giving the auto companies the opportunity to declare bankruptcy and invalidate their labor contracts (remember Continental Airlines in 1983?) but I have a problem with saddling the auto workers with what would come in a bankruptcy proceeding/labor contract re-negotiation given that Big 3 policy, strategy (not to mention profits) have not been emanating from the labor side of the operations. One could argue that labor should have leaned harder on management to think about rising oil prices and how enormous profits made from selling giant SUVs might be at least partially put toward R&D and then marketing efforts on more efficient vehicles as a hedge against inevitable oil price increases, but it is hard to blame workers who make on average 1/100th of what the CEO makes. For that outrageous pay, the exec team should be actually innovating, strategizing and, oh, how novel, designing cars Americans actually want to buy.

Here's something to think about -- average annual CEO pay is $10.5 million, 369 times the average worker pay of $28,310 (I am not suggesting that a union autoworker makes onlyk $28k a year, but . In 1970, before the big runup, the multiple was 28:1, a ratio that would make today's average worker pay $374,800. Put another way: If CEO pay were frozen now, it would take workers 66 years of 4% annual raises to get back to 1/28th of what the boss makes.

Data: Kevin J. Murphy, University of Southern California; CEO pay rounded and based on S&P 500 companies; worker pay, Bureau of Labor Statistics; ratios rounded to nearest whole number

Big 3 CEO pay is more than the average cited above. Here's some info about what they actually do make: http://www.thekarmareport.com/about/big-3-executive-compensation-for-taking-the-automotive-industry-to-the-brink-of-bankruptcy/. Again, I am not going to blame the autoworker who makes about $28/hour in cash wages (plus nice benefits I'll admit) for the mess their companies are in.

So where does all this talk of pay leave me? I still hate the bailout. But I don't want to see labor taking the biggest hit in all this. I guess I have some more reading to do (and I suppose I don't need to worry too much -- Dems in Congress are not about to forget the unions for the moment . . . . )