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The UAW currently has a two-tier wage system,
that includes top-paid $28-an-hour assembly workers and the
lower-paid second tier, whose wages top out at $19.28.
The automakers would be pushing forth for a third tier wage
system for certain lower-skilled jobs, Bloomberg said. (http://bloom.bg/1ImHJBP)
"For the 2015 negotiations, we're open to discussing many
different solutions with our UAW partners that will allow us to
continue to employ a competitive labor rate and add U.S. jobs
and investment," Ford spokeswoman Kristina Adamski said in a
statement.
Ford's hourly labor costs were $57, just behind GM's at $58.
FCA's U.S. workers averaged $48 per hour.
A new pay rate for lower-skilled jobs would help the automakers
bring down labor costs as they compete with Asian and European
rivals that pay less at non-union U.S. plants, the report said.
GM and Ford have much higher labor costs than their cross-town
rival Fiat Chrysler Automobiles <FCHA.MI>, according to a study
released just ahead of a meeting of United Auto Workers
officials as they prepare for contract talks with the Detroit
Three.
GM's U.S. auto workers on average earn about 21 percent more in
wages and benefits than their counterparts at Fiat Chrysler,
reflecting the much higher percentage of lower-paid, entry-level
workers at FCA, according to a study of 2014 labor costs by the
Center for Automotive Research (CAR).
"We aren't going to comment on potential topics in upcoming
negotiations... we are committed to working with our UAW
partners on solutions that will benefit employees and improve
GM's competitiveness," GM spokeswoman Katie McBride said in an
email.
UAW could not be reached outside business hours.
(Reporting by Ankit Ajmera and Anjali Rao Koppala in Bengaluru;
Editing by Bernard Orr and Anupama Dwivedi)
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