Source:
NY TimesDETROIT — The sweeping overhaul and surprising recovery of the American auto industry is about to pay off handsomely for the blue-collar workers at Ford and General Motors.
The two big Detroit carmakers will announce profit-sharing checks this month for their hourly workers, perhaps the largest in a decade, company officials and industry analysts say.
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But both G.M. and Ford enjoyed strong years in 2010 and are expected to report big profits this month. Industry analysts estimate that Ford’s 42,000 union workers will get profit-sharing checks of at least $5,000, based on the company’s performance last year in the North American market. That would be the biggest payout since the $8,000 checks that Ford handed out in 2000.
Workers at G.M. are likely to get less than their peers at Ford because the company didn’t do quite as well. Also, G.M. has a bigger pool of union workers — 54,000 — to compensate. But to rank-and-file employees who lived through the company’s financial collapse and subsequent government rescue, the checks will be tangible evidence that G.M. is well back on its feet.
Read more:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/13/business/13auto.html?src=busln
After this I not sure how there can be any doubt that saving the auto industry was the right thing to do.