Right Wing Myth-Busting
Do American Auto Workers Make $71 an Hour?
If this story were true, we'd all be standing in line for an auto worker's job. Here's where the distortionists on the far right came up with the $71 number: If you add the auto companies' retiree pension benefits to the wage and benefit amounts of current workers, and then divide by the number of current workers, you get $71. Of course, adding in retirees' benefits when calculating current workers' wages makes as much sense as adding in factory utility costs or the salaries of the auto companies' white collar workers.
The fact is that a new worker starting out at any of the Big Three gets under $16 an hour and the most experienced auto worker can only make up to $28 an hour. Add in the standard 15-20% for benefits and you've got the real numbers, a far cry from $71 an hour.
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