Bloomberg.com is reporting today that General Motors and Chrysler, both of which recieved large amounts of taxpayer money to continue operations, may award some managers bonuses of as much as 50 percent of their salary, said four people familiar with the plans.
Normally, I don't think it is anyone's business how much money someone earns or what their salary or bonuses are; however, when it's my money, I tend to pay attention.
The article reports:
"GM plans to pay bonuses to most managers equal to 15 percent to 20 percent of their annual salary and as high as 50 percent to less than 1 percent of its 26,000 U.S. salaried employees, said one of the people, who asked not to be named revealing internal plans. Bonuses for Chrysler's 10,755 salaried workers will average about $10,000, with a small group getting as much as half of their salary, one of the people said.
"...The payouts come as GM, Chrysler and Ford Motor Co. prepare for contract talks this year with the United Auto Workers, which is seeking a share of the industry's growing prosperity. Ford, the only U.S. automaker to avoid bankruptcy in 2009, is expected to pay bonuses equal to 10 percent or more of base pay to some salaried staff, said a person familiar with the plan."
The battle at Chrysler and General Motors is between the unions and the companies. The unions were given favorable treatment in the settlement with Chrysler (breaking existing bankruptcy laws) and the unions received favorable treatment when General Motors was funded by the government.
General Motors will be paying its union members bonuses of about 5 percent of their annual pay as part of their profit sharing plan. Chrysler union workers will receive about 1.3 percent. Ford will pay about 8.3 percent.
The article reports:
"UAW President Bob King has said he aims to recover some of the $7,000 to $30,000 in concessions each worker gave up since 2005 to help the U.S. automakers survive. The union surrendered raises, bonuses and cost-of-living adjustments. The UAW also agreed to a two-tier wage system in which new hires earn about $14 an hour, half the amount paid to senior production workers.
""All the sacrifices that our members made to turn these companies around were part of the process that's really led to this amazing turnaround," King said in an interview last month. "We want our membership to share in a very meaningful way in the upside of these companies.""
What about all the sacrifices the taxpayers made?
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