ABC's Bury falsely claimed Big Three auto companies “pay union workers more than $73 an hour in wages and benefits”

Written by Raphael Schweber-Koren

Published

On World News, Chris Bury falsely claimed that “Ford, Chrysler, and GM pay union workers more than $73 an hour in wages and benefits.” In fact, according to General Motors, the figure -- which GM puts at $69 per hour -- is based not only on 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 current retirees.

On the December 3 broadcast of ABC's World News, national correspondent Chris Bury falsely claimed that “Ford, Chrysler, and GM pay union workers more than $73 an hour in wages and benefits.” In fact, according to General Motors, which reportedly puts its current hourly labor costs at around $69, the figure is based not only on 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 current retirees, as Media Matters for America has noted.

Bury described the alleged $73 an hour pay rate as “the big stuff” that the United Auto Workers “did not offer to give back” as a concession to keep GM, Chrysler, and Ford from falling into bankruptcy. But the Associated Press reported that GM “says its total hourly labor costs dropped 6 percent this year from pre-contract levels, from $73.26 in 2006 to around $69 per hour,” and according to a GM spokesman, “The new cost includes laborers' wages of $29.78 per hour, plus benefits, pensions and the cost of providing health care to more than 432,000 GM retirees.”

Bury joins numerous other media figures who have advanced the falsehood that U.S. autoworkers employed by General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler earn $70 or more per hour in wages and benefits.

From the December 3 broadcast of ABC's World News with Charles Gibson:

BURY: But the union did not offer to give back the big stuff: pay and benefits that remain a fundamental problem. Ford, Chrysler, and GM pay union workers more than $73 an hour in wages and benefits. Japanese plants here shell out just over $44. For GM, that translates into $1,500 more per car than Toyota has to pay.

DAVID COLE (chairman, Center for Automotive Research): That's like trying to run a marathon, and your competition is wearing track shoes and a great track outfit, and you're wearing galoshes and an overcoat and carrying a bowling ball.

BURY: That competitive gap will shrink dramatically when big cuts in pay and benefits kick in over the next few years, but that's too late. Today the union chief bristled at blaming autoworkers.

RON GETTELFINGER (president, United Auto Workers): Are we going to take a look at what's happened to our economy, to the housing crunch, to the Wall Street bailout, and the failures on Wall Street? Those are the things that we need to look at.

BURY: The concessions may not be enough to stem the bleeding, but they may help convince Congress that Detroit is serious about changing its ways, and today, President-elect Obama suggested he is warming to the bailout plan.