Date:         Fri, 5 Dec 2003 16:53:50 -0400
Reply-To:     hosel <hosel@QUIK.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         hosel <hosel@QUIK.COM>
Subject:      German made VWs ?
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1

                                        Just one more reason to give
your money to another auto maker.........VW does not
                                        support a living wage in Mexico
for their workers......they even want to move more
                                        operations to China because
workers there are "less assert".

                                        Strike by Mexican Volkswagen
workers ends

                                        By Gerardo Nebbia
                                        11 September 2002

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this link by email | Email the author

                                        The 18-day strike by autoworkers
in Mexico that stopped production at the giant
                                        Volkswagen-Mexico plant in
Puebla state ended September 5 after the union
                                        agreed to management’s wage and
benefits offer. The 12,400 workers will receive a
                                        10.2 percent increase in wages,
3.5 percent increase in food vouchers and 1
                                        percent more for school supplies
for workers’ children.

                                        Last August, a five-day strike
by VW workers at the plant 65 miles outside of
                                        Mexico City resulted in a 21
percent wage increase. Both raises still leave workers’
                                        wages well behind the pace of
inflation, which has risen 352 percent since 1994.

                                        The latest increase raises
average VW wages to 226 pesos a day—about $26
                                        US—only marginally above what a
family of four requires to live above the official
                                        poverty line in Mexico. The
average wage of a US autoworker is $24 an hour, about
                                        seven times more than for a VW
worker in Mexico. (German auto workers earn
                                        about 10 times as much.)

                                        Originally, the Independent
Union of Volkswagen Workers (SITVW) had asked for a
                                        31 percent raise. On August 29,
workers rejected a 9 percent wage offer brought
                                        back by the union leadership.

                                        The combined 14 percent raise
was too much for VW management, however. After
                                        announcing the settlement,
VW-Mexico Vice President Francisco Bada announced
                                        that VW would stop a planned
$1.5 billion investment in Mexico. Instead the
                                        company would increase
production of its Jetta models in China, where VW
                                        officials said its workers are
"less assertive." No doubt VW is counting on the
                                        Beijing government’s brutal
repression of Chinese strikes to keep their workers less
                                        assertive.