According to the New York Times reporting on wages at Delphi, the autoworkers seem to be gaining rapidly. Earlier the NYT had reported that compensation for autoworkers at Delphi averaged $65 an hour. They never gave a detailed breakdown of this figure, but they did report that wages were $28 an hour. If the wage number is right, then the Times $65 an hour figure implies that Delphi workers average $37 an hour, or $74,000 a year, in health insurance, pension and other benefits. While I had noted that this seemed implausible to me, the Times has raised the bar in their latest reporting. It now tells us that workers at Delphi get more than $80 an hour in compensation. If the hourly wage rate is unchanged, then the Times is telling us that Delphi workers are getting health insurance, pensions, and other benefits that are worth $104,000 a year. I don�t think so.
--Dean Baker
