Joining the pack, Blitzer falsely claimed union autoworkers "make[] $73 an hour, on average, when you factor in all the benefits"
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SUMMARY: CNN's Wolf Blitzer falsely claimed that a union autoworker "makes $73 an hour, on average, when you factor in all the benefits." In fact, according to General Motors, the figure representing the hourly cost of labor to automakers -- which GM puts at $69 -- includes not only current workers' hourly wages and benefits, such as health care and retirement, but also retirement and health-care benefits that U.S. automakers are providing for retirees.
On the December 3 edition of CNN's Situation Room, host Wolf Blitzer falsely claimed that an autoworker who belongs to the United Auto Workers "makes $73 an hour, on average, when you factor in all the benefits, compared to $48 an hour for nonunion autoworkers here in the United States." In fact, according to General Motors, the figure representing the hourly cost of labor to U.S. automakers -- a cost that GM puts at $69 -- includes not only current workers' hourly wages and benefits, such as health care and retirement, but also retirement and health-care benefits that U.S. automakers are providing for retirees, as Media Matters for America has noted.
CNN also aired the following graphic echoing Blitzer's falsehood:
Numerous media figures and outlets have advanced the falsehood that autoworkers earn $70 or more per hour in wages and benefits, some using it to blame autoworkers for the domestic auto industry's financial straits.
From the December 3 edition of CNN's The Situation Room:
[begin video clip]
BROOKE BALDWIN (CNN correspondent): While the U.S. auto industry is fighting for survival, many Americans worry about a domino effect this federal intervention could create among other ailing industries.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Where do we draw the line from getting federal funding from the government?
RON GETTELFINGER (UAW president): We help the economy -- help keep it going. This industry's so important to our country and to our economy that I think -- I think this is an exception to the rule.
BALDWIN: A necessary exception, according to this Alabama autoworker, for the economy and the big three.
CINDY ADAMS (UAW Local 1413 president): When they don't have work, we don't have work. So, we all have to be here together.
[end video clip]
BALDWIN: Next, Ron Gettelfinger leaves Detroit, heads to Washington to join the Big Three CEOs on Capitol Hill for those hearings tomorrow. Wolf.
BLITZER: It's going to be a huge day here in Washington. Brooke, thank you.
The union, by the way, is itself feeling the pinch of a con -- of a contracting industry. The United Auto Workers' membership hit an all-time high of one-and-a-half million back in the 1970s. Today, it's under 600,000. A union worker makes $73 an hour, on average, when you factor in all the benefits, compared to $48 an hour for nonunion autoworkers here in the United States.
Two top auto executives will be right here in The Situation Room tomorrow. Do you have questions for the CEOs of General Motors and Chrysler? You can put them on -- on video. Send us your video questions to iReport.com/situationroom. We're gonna pick some of your questions and get them to the CEOs of GM and Chrysler tomorrow, here in The Situation Room.
Goes to show you how clueless talking news heads really are. It's a sad day when nobody pays attention to the corrections MMFA has been putting out.
It's a sad day when those who are paid to present facts pay no attention to reality.
Indeed. For how many days now has this talking point been debunked on the "blogoshere"? Do these high profile commentators NOT have someone checking their story on the Intertubes? By now any 13 year old who can type into google can learn the facts of this matter. But not Blitzer.... or he knows he is lying. I don't know which.
I believe that he just considers it too good a talking point to give up. In other words, he's lying.
Of course, I can't know that for a fact. Maybe he's genuinely ignorant. Those seem to be the only two options.
I think the real answer is that his producers push it on him with a blessing from the "information overlord" in the boardroom. Can't protect workers now, can we? I'd love to see an hourly breakdown on the board's salaries.
who needs a war on terror/drugs, when a good ole fashion war on unions will do just fine
What a deal! I wish I could get other people's retirement paid to me every hour!
"Joining the pack, Blitzer..." so then it's a wolf pack now?
Especially when Blitzer's big bad correspondent, Lou Pyne, chimes in.
Howl about you guys take a brief paws on dogging Wolf?
"a union worker makes $73 an hour.." no, they do not.
But they do when "you factor in all" this stuff that they don't get paid. Oh... wait....
You've got to remember that all of these costs are reaching right ino the pockets of the poor CEOs, taking a bite out of their meager multi-milion dollar salaries.
I'd like one of our media geniuses to start figuring in even more costs-- leases or property taxes, maintenenance on factories, money paid to celebrity spokespeople, utility bills. I'd guess these elite factory workers are really making thousands of dollars an hour, when you add up every penny that the top guys don't get to put directly into their offshore accounts.
Exactly! This $73 an hour crap is way too low-ball. Autoworkers are making $258 an hour in Super Bowl advertising alone.
You know, they don't HAVE to heat those assembly lines. I'd say frostbite protection is a definite benefit, too.
At least ONE show seems to be getting the message on this one. On this morning's Morning Joe, Mike Barnicle interrupted someone touting the $73 an hour myth to make the point that it included - in his words - the pensions and health care being paid to "guys that retired 25 years ago". No one yet seems to be making the connection that if the auto makers get to weasel out of their contracts to provide retirement, health benefits and layoff protection, all those costs will land on the government - and by exension, us American taxpayers.
I want to know what Blitzer gets paid every hour (don't forget to factor in all the 'benefits', bonuses, and perks). Then let's have a look at how much cable companies charge their subscribers and see if there are places where the costs could be cut. And oh let's be sure to look at network and cable company executive salaires. While were at it what about oil company executives, health care company salaries, pharmaceutical company salaries, college tuitions, and road tolls. Hell let's look at everybody's salary. How about a mass rollback to a buck an hour. That should keep everyone happy. Right? Or better yet let Limbaugh, Hannity, and Blitzer determine what everyone should be paid. I feel Utopia coming. But of course Limbaugh, Hannity, and Blitzer are doing God's Work--so they should get a pass.
Why can't the MSM provide a breakdown of other unions' workers for comparison? As a retired New York public school teacher I know damn well I wasn't getting the hourly wage auto workers are "accused" of making. We had a union, of sorts, but our contracts were more about working conditions, legal rights, and promotional benefits rather than money. The money was the stuff the local school boards decided to "trickle down" to us peons. We were lucky to get a 2% raise, spread out over two years. I never bothered to figure in all the "generous" add-ons" to my hourly wage. We didn't resent the much larger salaries of our superintendents because of the many more hours they worked. Certainly they didn't draw million dollar salaries plus multi-million buy-outs for doing a bad job.
What does Wolf Blitzer get paid per hour?
You would think it would be enough to pay somebody who would bother to read Media Matters at least once per day to debunk these silly propaganda-driven myths.
Not just Blitzer; you can add Peter Peterson on yesterday's American Public Media's "Marketplace Morning Report", and also on yesterday's CBS Evening News. The zombie lie just will not die.
I heard this figure used last night while watching World News Tonight with Charles Gibson, and he did not explain that this wage includes all the benefits of previous employees as well. So not just CNN...
Under steady state assumptions, constant number of employees and retirees, wouldn't $69/hr be the correct labor costs since as part of compensation there is a retiree benefit? If this is indeed true, then given non-steady state assumptions about the employee and retiree population and expected rising health care costs, $73/hour could indeed be the full labor cost per employee.
They don't even watch their own news, either, because today during the hearings this phony figure was debunked and called a lie.