United Auto Workers, the Sugar Program, and the CEI Podcast

United Auto Workers

A United Auto Workers local voted to close a GM supplier plant despite JD Norman Industries’ attempt to save it.

Labor Policy Counsel Vincent Vernuccio explains what happened.

“JD Norman agreed to save the supplier from closure under the condition that UAW workers bring their pay closer to the industry average. The result would be a 50-percent pay reduction. That would amount to $15.50 an hour down from $29 for unskilled workers, and $24 an hour, down from $33 for skilled trade workers Employees who continued working at the plant and agreed to the reduced salary would retain GM seniority and receive a cash bonus up to $35,000. Employees who did not want to accept the pay cut would be free to transfer to other GM plants for up to two years. Yet rather than agreeing to a pay cut and receive a cash bonus or transferring to other plants, union members of UAW Local 23 balked.”

The Sugar Program

Rep. Joe Pitts has introduced legislation to end the U.S. sugar program.

Adjunct Scholar Fran Smith explains why the sugar program needs to be eliminated.

“As is true with many government programs, the sugar program’s benefits are concentrated and the costs are diffuse. It principally benefits large sugar cane producers in Florida and Louisiana and sugar beet farmers in 14 upper-Midwestern and Western states. For those who benefit, the rewards are significant—the General Accounting Office estimated in 1991 that 42 percent of the sugar grower benefits went to only 1 percent of all sugar farms, or 150 farms. Some 33 sugar farms received over $1 million in annual benefits. “

CEI Podcast

Warren Brookes Fellow Ryan Young interviews Real Clear Politics editor Jeremy Lott about his new book, William F. Buckley.

Listen here.