The Poor UAW :(

Did I read the news correctly? Did Ford proudly announce that it had renegotiated the union contracts to lower the pay rate to $55 per hour?! Are you freakin' kidding me?

I know one thing for sure, next time I need a negotiator I'm hiring the Ford union rep. If this guy can look sad about the fact that union factory workers are ONLY making $55 per hour then he should be up for an academy award!

Let's do a little math:

1. Union employees get three or more weeks of paid vacation time, so in essence they "work" 51 weeks per year.
2. If they work 40 hours per week, that equates to 2,040 hours per year (51wks * 40 hrs/wk).
3. At $55/hr they will make $112,200 per year (2,040 hrs/yr * $55/hr).

The reason $112,200 per year sounds high to me is simple:
The average college graduate only makes $46,000 in income.
http://www.simplyhired.com/a/salary/search/q-college+graduate

Even if we use a 50% burden rate for benefits for these college grads (which I hate to do, because college grads don't get anything close to the kind of benefits union workers get) we still only have compensation rates of $33.82 per hour!

1. $46,000 *1.5 = $69,000
2. $69,000 per year / 2,040 hours worked per year = $33.82

Can we really fight for college educations when it is clear that we value unionized factory workers more? What should I tell my children now? Join a mob and negotiate your way to wealth, it doesn't matter if the company makes money (Ford lost reported operating losses over $17 billion in 2008)?

Sadly, this is our strongest auto company, by a mile.

BOOOOOO uaw! BOOOOO!