• Remapping Debate, Thursday, December 22, 2011 10:41 AM

Kevin Brown writes that American autoworkers -- and the public -- are told that high-wage work is unsustainable in today's globalized marketplace. "Apostles of neo-liberal economic theory — both in the public and private sectors — have stressed the message that worker adaptation is necessary to survive," he writes, noting that Steven Rattner, President Obama’s “car czar” during the restructuring of General Motors and Chrysler in early 2009, has said he  regrets that the federal government had not required the United Auto workers to take a wage cut.

But in Germany, which last year produced more than 5.5 million automobiles to our 2.7 million, automakers like BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen pay their workers $67.14 per hour in salary and benefits, while the average autoworker in the U.S. made $33.77 per hour.  And they are very profitable. Brown says the difference is that, in Germany, "The automakers operate within an environment that precludes a race to the bottom; in the U.S., they operate within an environment that encourages such a race.”

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