Japanese paying U.S. workers bonuse

[lovuian]

http://feeds.bignewsnetwork.com/?sid=c7d78e505a6770dc

Some Asian automakers are giving U.S. factory workers bonuses averaging up to $10,000, something Detroit's two biggest carmakers have dispensed with.

Toyota Motor Corp. awarded its 5,600 hourly employees at its largest U.S. plant in Georgetown, Ky., an average of $10,131 for 2005, the Detroit News said Friday. The plant builds the Camry, the best-selling car in the nation.
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Proof that American workers are skilled and can produce great cars if you give them decent management!!!

toyota doesn't pay their CEO's like GM does but they pay their workers!!!

WAKE UP MANAGEMENT in AMERICA!!!

[lindisfarne]

1. On the face of it, this sounds great. But how do base salaries, benefits,

and pensions compare (granted, pensions from US automakers may disappear, and benefits are being cut, but I wonder if the Japanese automakers are using (very nice) bonuses to off-set employees clamoring for pensions, as well as to keep out unions?)

[NMDemDist2]

2. if you could put $10K in a Roth IRA every year for 25 years, I think

your need for a "pension" is taken care of eh?

according to this calculator, you'd get $51K a year for 26 years of retirement

http://www.moneychimp.com/articles/rothira/rothcalc.htm

[cap]

3. japanese paying non-union workers a bonus...

the article should state that the Japanese are paying their workers a lower salary with fewer benefits.

That's why they moved to Georgetown KY... a right to work state that makes it hard to unionize.

Sorry cant cheer on the management.

[okieinpain]

12. oh, we can cheer on the management, because they do build

a better product. but all companies suck with not wanting to pay a decent salary/benefits. I just can't figure out why the big 3 can't make vehicles as good as japan.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

4. They're just following traditional Japanese paying patterns

The bonus is typically an extra month's salary, and people either save it or use it for a major purchase. (Credit cards are a relatively new concept over there, and it is still not uncommon to whip out a roll of bills to pay for a computer or wide-screen TV.)

[cap]

5. regardless, even including the bonus, they are paying below

union wages.

That's why they are in the South and not in the MidWest.

[proud2BlibKansan]

9. $10,000 is an average month's salary???

Who was just saying these workers are not paid as well as union members at GM and Ford?

[LostinVA]

10. Yes, the Japanese are VERY against debt

And Japanese New Year is usually a time when any outstanding debts are paid off. My Japanese friend, who has lived her for over ten years, only got a credit card because she needs one for car rentals. She hates having it.

[Toucano]

6. And that plant is a UAW facility, no?

[Toucano]

7. Oops. My bad.

The Corolla is UAW made, not the Camry.

[1932]

8. In Greg LeRoy's book, the Great American Jobs Scam, which is about corps

who get deals from local communities to locate their factories, but then don't deliver on their promises, LeRoy writes about how Toyota put a pick-up truck factory in Texas even though other communities offered HUGE concessions and Texas didn't. Toyota said that they picked Texas because the factory was close to a sea port and because Texas has the biggest market for pick-ups in the US. Furthermore, Toyota made VOLUNTARY contributions to the the community so that they could build up infrastructure (I think the money went to the local school and to build up the sewer system).

Toyota said that they believe it is important to their business that they not take from the communities in which they live, but that they make life better in those communities.

[natrat]

11. it's arguable that American elite are really stupid nt