The following is from
https://www.detroitnews.com/story/opinion/columnists/nolan-finley/2019/09/24/finley-union-not-gm-exploiting-uaw-strikers/2418655001/
The article is obvious an opinion piece, but it was eye opening for me to see some UAW pay numbers. I've stripped off the opinionated parts to show just the numbers here.
UAW autoworkers are the elite of America's blue collar workforce. Going into the strike, the GM workers enjoyed a base pay of about $1,200 a week, or roughly $60,000 a year. With overtime and shift differentials, the average union worker at GM earns about $90,000 annually. That's a third more than the average Michigan school teacher.
For each of the past four years, GM has issued profit sharing checks of more than $10,000 to its union employees. That's a dandy annual windfall for someone saving for retirement or college. In comparison, for the one-third of American workers who share in profits, the average check is $2,000.
- GM's profit distribution is more collectivist than capitalist. Owners of the company reap just $1.67 a year in dividends per share. A GM stockholder would have to hold more than 6,000 shares, or roughly a quarter million investment, to get as large a piece of the profit pie as an union employee.
Veteran UAW autoworkers are among the rare group of employees in this country who still get pensions, which they can collect after 30 years on the job. (Newer hires have been moved to 401(K) plans.) They also have near fully paid health insurance (they cover 3% of their health care costs, compared to the national average of 30%). And the coverage carries into retirement.