By Bryce G. Hoffman/The Detroit News
Chrysler Group LLC’s proposal during recent contract negotiations to eliminate the current two-tier wage system and pay all production workers $22 an hour would not have reduced the pay of any current employees, according to sources with direct knowledge of the company’s plan.
Rather, in exchange for an agreement from the United Auto Workers to permanently remove the cap on hiring second-tier workers, due to take effect in 2015, Chrysler would have gradually increased the base wages of those employees to $22 an hour over eight years.
The idea was to increase the pay of entry-level workers as more of Chrysler’s higher-paid veteran employees retired or left the company, leaving only one class of production workers — all making the same base wage.
From The Detroit News: http://detnews.com/article/20111108/