The criticism from the right blaming autoworkers for the demise of the American auto industry hasn’t always been fair. It isn’t the fault of workers that the big three have produced products people don’t want; management fairly takes a big share of the blame. But then you read these stories you can see partially where the right was coming from.

Reuters reports:

Ford Motor Co expects operating savings of $500 million per year from an agreement with the United Auto Workers that will push hourly wage rates into the “ballpark” of foreign-based rivals, the company said on Wednesday.

The agreement trims average wages and benefits for UAW hourly workers to about $55 per hour this year, while the U.S. operations of foreign-based automakers — or what executives call “transplants” — pay workers on average $48 to $49 per hour, Ford said.

That’s right, $55 per hour. If they work a 36 hour week or longer, that’s $100,000 USD a year, and that’s the reduced pay.

Now I’m all for people getting paid what they deserve, and many of these assembly line jobs could involve a fair bit of technical knowledge. But in a market that in part has been killed by cheap Asian imports, and where many Americans struggle to find jobs, let alone get $10/ hour, workers at Ford have their pay cut to $55/ hour. And a non-American owned company pays workers in the United States $48-$49 per year.

Ford didn’t take a handout from the US Government, but presuming their pay rates are similar to workers at GM and Chrysler, you can safely say that this is part what the auto industry bailout is paying for. Your taxpayer money at work indeed

Ford and Unions negotiate a pay cut…to $55/ hour is a post from: The Inquisitr

While polls showed the majority of American’s did not support a bailout of the auto industry, The Bush Administration acted anyway, throwing away loaning the industry some $17 billion. So what’s the first thing Chrysler does with its share of the money: a nation wide advertising campaign thanking America for the money.

The obscene nature though isn’t surprising given the industry is in the mess it’s in because of a long track record of ineptitude. Remember folks: GM and Chrysler were losing money 4 years ago, the economic crisis didn’t cause them to fail, their complete inability to run a business successfully did.

Obscene: Chrysler Spending Bailout Money on Ads Thanking America for Bailout Money is a post from: The Inquisitr

General Motors has posted a propaganda video to YouTube in an attempt to gain support for a bailout of the US car industry.

The bailout itself is currently in dispute, with House Democrats calling on the Bush Administration to dip into the financial industry rescue package, and Bush arguing that Congress should restructure a previous $25 billion subsidy scheme originally targeted at the development of environmentally friendly vehicles.

The reception on YouTube so far hasn’t been positive, with the video gaining only 2 stars and a pile of negative comments. As Owen Thomas points out on Valleywag, the video has resulted in “predictably disastrous results. GM marketers have clearly fallen for the myth of Internet PR — that taking a company’s message directly to the people through social media will give it a much friendlier reception than if it is filtered through the mainstream media. The reality?”

Here’s the video for your enjoyment…although that’s probably not the right word to describe it.

GM gets poor reception for YouTube bailout propaganda is a post from: The Inquisitr