Perhaps I’m showing my age but I can remember back to a time when we were told that Japanese cars were so cheap because the workers on the production line back in Japan were poorly paid.
A quick glance at a new story in the auto section of Business Week Online might seem to confirm that they’re still poorly paid. After all, the union that covers workers on the Toyota line wanted a wage increase of $12.77 a month but got beaten down to just $8.51 extra each month. What Australian worker would ever be happy with such a miserable increase in their monthly pay?
But then what Australian company – auto or other – would pay their workers a $21,964 production bonus?
That’s what each Toyota is paying their production line workers this year. Last year the bonus was only $20,177.
There’s nothing cheap about those workers.