Amazing

Amazing. That's the best word to describe what I read today. CNN.com is covering the Delphi bankruptcy, and its CEO was outlining wage cuts that he feels were necessary to save the company.

What I found extremely shocking was the following sentence:

The average union worker's wage-and-benefit package at Delphi is about $65 an hour, according to Delphi.

$65 an hour?! For unskilled labor? No wonder jobs are flooding overseas. While I'm sure that a lot of that is benefits, that still has to be at least $30 an hour, which is insane for unskilled labor.

As always, management is uneager to do their part.

Miller said he would take a "significant" cut in his $1.5 million salary, if necessary, and defended Delphi's decision to increase cash bonuses and extend severance packages to 18 months for top executives.

I personally would find it insulting if the CEO wanted to cut my wages yet would only consider a cut to his salary (or that of the other executives) "if necessary". I think that a cut to everyone's salary should have been announced. Then again, we're in the era of the Robber Barons again and the wealthy men running these companies are only interested in cutting the wages of the "individual contributors" AKA wage slaves, and not themselves.

Delphi CEO says wage cuts could save pensions