So how much does a Canadian Auto Workers union member make?

[Thorin]

I've heard lots about how much Canadian Auto Worker union members (the people who work for GM, Ford, and Chrysler here in Canada) get paid, but never an actual number.  Well, here's some telling numbers:

Active labour costs for a CAW member are $69 an hour, including pension and benefits. The deal reduces that to $62. An 80-cent Canadian dollar brings that to about $50 US an hour, though that doesn't include a 10% productivity advantage Canadian workers enjoy over American workers.

source: http://lfpress.ca/newsstand/News/CanadaWorld/2009/03/10/8688266-sun.html

Now keep in mind that the new $62/hr cost is an average and that it does cover pension and medical costs and legal benefits and all those things.  But next time you look at your employer and they're giving you $35/hr plus medical benefits (worth on average $2/hr), remember those poor CAW union members that had to sacrifice their wages...

Man, I shoulda moved to Ontario and gone to work for Ford.

[Lazybones]

They also lost 10 vacation days, I wonder how may they have in total?

[Thorin]

They had six weeks, now they get four weeks.  Oh, but that's only for the more senior workers.  Beginning workers didn't get six weeks vacation.

[Mr. Analog]

Don't forget you can get an "owie" on the line and get off on Workers Comp.

[Thorin]

I'd really rather work than go on workers' comp...  Workers' comp pays a lot less than working the line!

[Mr. Analog]

I'd really rather work than go on workers' comp...  Workers' comp pays a lot less than working the line!

Yeah, but you sit at home, make money and if you do it long enough retire on the same pension!

[Darren Dirt]

2-3 years later, and that industry is still one of the top-paying in Canada...

Canadian Wage and Salary Guide <-- a very nicely designed website, easy to jump around to the GENERAL industry/topic of interest


for more SPECIFIC stuff (based on job title, city, years in the industry) check out: http://www.payscale.com/mypayscale.aspx

[Thorin]

3 years, 3 months, 24 days later...

That PayScale site?  It tried to ask me a whole bunch of questions, instead of just telling me the salary ranges.

[Lazybones]

And then it asks for your email to send you the results.

Infoharvesting at its core

[Darren Dirt]

And then it asks for your email to send you the results.

Infoharvesting at its core

actually it asked me a few basic questions and showed me a general results without any email needed, I didn't want/need to go further into it (and hey isn't mailinator still around?)