I've been busy lately, so I have let several of those references to the famous $70 an hour pay received by UAW members pass unchallenged. Fortunately Felix Salmon is on the job. Any reporter who repeats this number should get an immediate 10 percent pay cut. It is simply untrue and it is hugely irresponsible to pass along such falsehoods at a time when the survival of the industry is being debated. It is a very different story if the total compensation of autoworkers is $40-$45 an hour, as opposed to $70 an hour.
--Dean Baker