Waning era of the middle-class factory job | csmonitor.com

Waning era of the middle-class factory job | csmonitor.com:

Wages at this level for manufacturing jobs are not sustainable. Many factors contribute including concessions to labor unions to prevent costly stikes enabled by the golden years of profitability for the auto industry. Globalization and competitive companies in other parts of the world with lower wages have eroded this compensation for factory workers.

Underlying the historical resiliency of Americans is our education and training system which gives workers the chance to retool themselves. This is the only realistic answer for people displaced in the world we inhabit. Protectionism and artificial trade barriers will not prevail. Individual initiative and help from government and employers is the only realistic answer.

"Today, hourly manufacturing pay in Flint remains extraordinarily high, $31 an hour - nearly twice the national average.

But fewer have those jobs today. Per capita incomes in this city have fallen below the US norm, and could fall further still as the auto industry goes through its next phase of cuts.

A coming restructuring plan at Ford Motor Co. will match GM in job cuts, eliminating 30,000 positions within five years, according to a report in Wednesday's Detroit News that cited people familiar with the plan.Delphi CEO Robert S. 'Steve' Miller has said drastic action is needed for domestic industry to remain competitive."