"Volkswagen’s Tennessee plant sets new standard for low wages"

Status
Not open for further replies.

oxford_guy

Veteran Member
Joined
Mar 19, 2011
Location
Ohio
TDI
Golf '11
By Andre Damon

Volkswagen’s new plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee, made headlines this year as the first US auto assembly plant to pay its entire production workforce the lowest starting wage for new US autoworkers—$14.50 per hour. But now the plant is starting all new production employees at $12 per hour, workers said, setting the bar even lower for autoworker wages.

In order to receive a bevy of state, federal, and local subsidies, Volkswagen promised in 2008 to create 2,000 local jobs at the “full” pay rate. But as production approaches full speed, all new production workers are now being hired in through Aerotek, Volkswagen’s labor contractor, at $12 per hour. In addition to the current production workforce, the factory employs over 500 temporary contract production employees, workers said.

“Aerotek workers are in assembly doing the same jobs as VW workers, they just work for a different company,” said one contract worker named Josh. “In orientation, we were told we’re considered equal to Volkswagen workers, and expected to work just like them.”

While discipline is severe for Volkswagen employees, Aerotek contractors have it even worse. “If you're five or six minutes late within your first week or two, you’re done.” said Josh. “If you call out a day within your first month and a half, you’re out,” he said.

“Anyone who talks about ‘spoiled American workers’ is very badly mistaken,” he concluded.

Despite the record-low wages paid by the plant, there has been no problem filling positions with local workers. The economic devastation wrought on Chattanooga over the past ten years has thrown tens of thousands of experienced and qualified industrial workers out of work as major factories shut their doors.

“These are the best-paying jobs available anywhere in Chattanooga,” said one Volkswagen worker who asked us not to use his name. “You do everything knowing there are a dozen people out there who would gladly do your job if you don’t want it.”

Volkswagen received over 35,000 applications for its initial hiring batch of 1,500 employees, and applicants continue to stream in by the thousands. On morning shift changes, applicants join the uniformed Volkswagen and Aerotek workers streaming into the plant’s gates.

“Every day for the past three months, 48 people have taken an 8-hour production simulation exam, hoping to land a job at the plant,” said Josh. “That’s over four thousand people wasting a whole day to fill five hundred positions,” he said.

In addition to the hundreds of contract employers from Aerotek, maintenance and food service is done by contractors who earn even less than production temps, in some cases as little as $8 per hour.

“Wages are falling everywhere; it’s true in Detroit and it’s true here,” said Josh. “But what can you do? Twelve dollars per hour is still a pretty good job around here.”

Wages in the area have fallen as high unemployment forces workers to take any job that becomes available. “It’s good business on the part of the companies,” said Josh.

Josh used to work for the local electrical company making $11.50, but started looking for other work when he found out his department was being cut. “I knew more layoffs were coming, so I started looking for work early,” he said. “I'’ve seen my coworkers laid off by the dozens.”

Josh said that two out of the seven Aerotek workers on his team were laid off from General Motors plants in Detroit, where they were paid $28 per hour or more, and moved to Chattanooga to start as temps making $12 per hour.

Many of those who make it through Volkswagen’s arduous hiring process cannot stand the mental and physical fatigue of production work. “Twenty or 40 people a week just walk out,” said Josh. “It's a very hard job.”

While the paint and body shops—where many temps start out—have their fair share of hard work, workers said assembly is the most arduous part of the plant. “I’ve been here since early August and I haven't even touched a car body,” said Josh. “They make sure you’re prepared, because assembly work is absolutely insane.”

The vast majority of those who applied for work at the plant were turned away. One of those was John Mayo, 57, who currently works as the head of the maintenance for a local marina. Mayo said he makes $13 per hour at the marina, and applied to Volkswagen for the benefits.

“They looked at my age and said, ‘he couldn't do this for 20 years.’ Sure, they overlooked my experience, but that’s how things go,” he added.

Mayo said he took off work to complete the application process, which took most of the day. Five of his co-workers at the marina applied for work at the plant, all unsuccessfully. “I’m not looking for a handout, just a decent job,” he said.

Mayo accepted his current job, despite the “ridiculously low rate of pay,” because he was laid off from his previous job as a maintenance head at a boat dealership, and collected unemployment for the first time in his life.
Daryl Okolley, who waits tables at a local diner by the plant, said he understands why people accept Volkswagen's low wages. “It’s hard to find any decent work anywhere around here.”

Okolley was one of over a thousand workers who lost their jobs when Wheland Foundry, an automotive brake casting plant in the South Side of Chattanooga, was closed in 2001. “One day they just got everyone together in the auditorium and said, we're closing down. About a week later I got a retirement check for $161, and that was that.”

He went from making $13 per hour at the foundry to minimum wage at a Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant, before landing his current job. “It was quite an adjustment, to say the least,” he said.

Okolley made $13 per hour at the foundry. “At the time, that was a decent job,” he said. “But you can’t raise a family on that now.”
 

bcbsox

Veteran Member
Joined
Mar 7, 2009
Location
Fort Lost-In-The-Woods, MO
TDI
92 Corrado SLC ;)
Link to original story? I grew up in a GM town (Dayton, Ohio). The plant there was part of the major shutdowns a few years back. The closed up shop Dec 23, Merry Christmas.
I never made sense to me why a company would pay someone upwards of $22/hr to sweep floors and clean bathrooms JUST because they'd been with a company for umpteen years. There are jobs that are just limited to a certain pay bracket, raising those wages above a set point just inflates the end product's selling price to the customer--the manufacturer certainly isn't going to absorb it. If you've been with a company for 20 years and you're still cleaning bathrooms, good for you for establishing your career path. Sorry that it is one that should really only pay a couple bucks over minimum wage.

Maybe it's the ice-cold-conservative blood running through my veins, but I see somethings in such a black and white way, this is definitely one of them.

Don't even get me started on Minimum wage.... Notice there are no more "dollar menus" at fast food joints? They can't produce the food cheaply enough to continue to make any money at those low prices, partially because of the Minimum Wage laws.
 

terrylwc

Member
Joined
Sep 7, 2011
Location
Grand Rapids, OH
TDI
2011 Jetta TDI
Link to original story? I grew up in a GM town (Dayton, Ohio). The plant there was part of the major shutdowns a few years back. The closed up shop Dec 23, Merry Christmas.
I never made sense to me why a company would pay someone upwards of $22/hr to sweep floors and clean bathrooms JUST because they'd been with a company for umpteen years. There are jobs that are just limited to a certain pay bracket, raising those wages above a set point just inflates the end product's selling price to the customer--the manufacturer certainly isn't going to absorb it. If you've been with a company for 20 years and you're still cleaning bathrooms, good for you for establishing your career path. Sorry that it is one that should really only pay a couple bucks over minimum wage.
Maybe it's the ice-cold-conservative blood running through my veins, but I see somethings in such a black and white way, this is definitely one of them.
Don't even get me started on Minimum wage.... Notice there are no more "dollar menus" at fast food joints? They can't produce the food cheaply enough to continue to make any money at those low prices, partially because of the Minimum Wage laws.
Amen brother.
 

oilhammer

Certified Volkswagen Nut & Vendor
Joined
Dec 11, 2001
Location
outside St Louis, MO
TDI
There are just too many to list....
For assembly line work, in this country, in this economy, $12/hr is probably about right. Maybe more manufacturing will return here if the wages are more in line with what they should be.

This is known as "unskilled labor", and the compensation should reflect that. No reason why a guy putting one small piece of a giant puzzle together should expect more pay than someone like me, who not only is expected to take the ENTIRE puzzle completely apart AND put it back together again, but also have the gray matter to understand WHY. :mad:
 

oxford_guy

Veteran Member
Joined
Mar 19, 2011
Location
Ohio
TDI
Golf '11
Is there a point to this?
I don't know. China is getting the B7 Passat with LEDs, xenon, rear vents, and stuff.

And, then there's this:

Hedge fund king John Paulson earns more per hour than most Americans in a lifetime—and he pays a lower tax rate

Zaid Jilani said:
If your job paid $50,000 a year and you stayed at it for 47 years, your tally for a lifetime of work would be $2.4 million. Not bad — but hedge fund hustler John Paulson pulled down that much last year.

Most of us would consider an annual income of $2.4 million to be a windfall, but it didn’t take Paulson a full 12 months of work to pocket his windfall — or one month, a week, or even a day. That’s how much he made an hour. Yes, Paulson could’ve worked one single hour in 2010 and hauled off a paycheck equal to what a typical household gets for a lifetime of work.
Gaius Publius said:
By the way, hedge-king John Paulson is the guy we clocked in 2009 as earning $2.3 billion. He's also the guy who got Goldman Sachs to create worthless derivatives packages so he could bet against them.


The money goes somewhere!
 

oxford_guy

Veteran Member
Joined
Mar 19, 2011
Location
Ohio
TDI
Golf '11
Life is political.

Certainly buying cars is a political act. Every time someone buys a B7 Passat, they're supporting the new record low for wages. I think people should be informed about their political acts.
 

bcbsox

Veteran Member
Joined
Mar 7, 2009
Location
Fort Lost-In-The-Woods, MO
TDI
92 Corrado SLC ;)
For assembly line work, in this country, in this economy, $12/hr is probably about right. Maybe more manufacturing will return here if the wages are more in line with what they should be.

This is known as "unskilled labor", and the compensation should reflect that. No reason why a guy putting one small piece of a giant puzzle together should expect more pay than someone like me, who not only is expected to take the ENTIRE puzzle completely apart AND put it back together again, but also have the gray matter to understand WHY. :mad:

Exactly... we have literally chased away manufacturing jobs from our shores with high taxes and the absolutely out of control unions (what a waste of space).
 

terrylwc

Member
Joined
Sep 7, 2011
Location
Grand Rapids, OH
TDI
2011 Jetta TDI
I don't know. China is getting the B7 Passat with LEDs, xenon, rear vents, and stuff.

And, then there's this:

Hedge fund king John Paulson earns more per hour than most Americans in a lifetime—and he pays a lower tax rate







The money goes somewhere!
Tell it to the union jackass. What are supposed to pay someone to do a job a monkey can do? Don't confuse income tax and capital gains tax. Your arguments are really stale and laughable at best.
 

compu_85

Gadget Guy
Joined
Sep 29, 2003
Location
La Conner, WA
TDI
... None :S
Well, the truth is that political tops are not allowed on TDIClub. Free speech does not apply here. Sorry, them's the rules. If you don't like Fred's rules don't play in Fred's sandbox.

If you want to have a political discussion there are many other fine message boards you can visit.

-J
 

oxford_guy

Veteran Member
Joined
Mar 19, 2011
Location
Ohio
TDI
Golf '11
If you want a debate, I'm glad to participate, but not if it's going to devolve into name-calling.
 

oxford_guy

Veteran Member
Joined
Mar 19, 2011
Location
Ohio
TDI
Golf '11
Life is political.

The bottom line is that some politics are allowed and others aren't.

Buying cars is a very political act.

The issue of Volkswagen's plant wages is hardly something that should be banned from a VW site. What country is this, anyway?
 

oxford_guy

Veteran Member
Joined
Mar 19, 2011
Location
Ohio
TDI
Golf '11
Notice the Canadian flag on the bottom of the page?
Canada doesn't strike me as a place where simple facts like wages can't be discussed, but I'm no expert on Canada. I'm not under the impression that it's like Russia.
 

terrylwc

Member
Joined
Sep 7, 2011
Location
Grand Rapids, OH
TDI
2011 Jetta TDI
Here's an idea. If you don't like the wages, don't work there. Simple huh? If you don't like the wages don't buy the car. Overpay for something else.
 

compu_85

Gadget Guy
Joined
Sep 29, 2003
Location
La Conner, WA
TDI
... None :S
Basically you are on Fred's private server, in Canada. Government free speech rules do not apply. Politics is on the banned subject list. Them's the rules, I don't make em.
 

oxford_guy

Veteran Member
Joined
Mar 19, 2011
Location
Ohio
TDI
Golf '11
Basically you are on Fred's private server, in Canada. Government free speech rules do not apply. Politics is on the banned subject list. Them's the rules, I don't make em.
I am just pointing out that you can't ban politics. You can only ban certain politics. That's just the way life works.
 

KITEWAGON

Veteran Member
Joined
Jun 29, 2009
Location
Seacoast, NH
TDI
2014 Touareg Exec, 2014 JSW
IBTL. Interesting story. It is nice to see new manufacturing jobs in the USA. Hopefully we will see more jobs returning to America from overseas in the near future.
 

greengeeker

Vendor
Joined
Feb 8, 2006
Location
Cambridge, MN
TDI
2002 Jetta GLS
What's the problem here?

It looks like VW did their homework. They picked a location where they a surplus of unskilled labor willing to work for those wages. By the sounds of it those wages would be even lower if they could. I personally always thought auto assembly workers were way overpaid...of course they are going to gripe now that reality has entered their world (incidentally, it coincides with the leaving of the union ;)). That is all.
 

Ski in NC

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Jul 7, 2008
Location
Wilmington, NC USA
TDI
2001 Jetta ALH 5sp stock
So, O.G., what are you suggesting VW do? Pay more for assembly workers? Invite the union in?

I see nothing wrong with companies paying a free market wage. If 4000 apply for 1500 positions (or whatever the numbers are), then they are paying above the market wage.

Inflated wages was part of the reason so much manufacturing left the US. Seeing some sanity in wages may help bring manufacturing back. As it certainly did in Chattanooga.
 

jagardn

Member
Joined
Aug 1, 2011
Location
Bradenton FL
TDI
2011 Golf
That's why I bought a non-union car. I refuse to give a penny of my money to the union thugs.
I'm beginning to like this guy. :D
I'd rather buy a car from a company that is paying a "normal" wage, than buy from a company that is paying some lug nut more money to put on lug nuts than what a job from a 4 year degree pays.
 

d-man

Veteran Member
Joined
Nov 15, 2008
Location
alberta
TDI
05 jetta PD
They need to pay their employees a wage that is able to maintain a quality standard of living. If the employees are struggling to pay rent and make bill payments then it only hurts the region that is hiring them. I do not shop at walmart for this reason. If you know that these people are under paid what that means is they have no funds to purchase from your establishment. Its called cash flow and that is how our economy works. The more it flows to everyone the better everyone is.
 

leicaman

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Dec 24, 2004
Location
Sheboygan, Wisconsin
TDI
2015 Golf TDI SE, 2005 TDI GLS, RIP
My take on it is that for many years autoworkers were so clearly making so much more money than folks who sweated out a degree and got job in the field (such as I) were a little upset at that. I mean here we have a guy making 60-80k a year doing assembly work. It took me almost 12 years to break 10 bucks an hour even with a college degree, graduating with top honors etc. Before the recession hit, I was doing ok, but since then we've taken a 12% cut. I hope not to take any more hits, but of course we shall see. At least I am not down to the amount per hour they are paying the Passat workers.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top