For anyone who cares for debunking of spin based on good investigative journalism this site Factcheck.org is a breath of fresh air. Well balanced, thorough, factual.
Their latest gem: do autoworkers in Detroit really make USD 70/hr or almost 3 times as much as other workers, as the Heritage Foundation (a conservative thinktank/action group) claimed?
No.
” The automakers say that the average wage earned by its unionized workers is about $29 per hour. So how does that climb to more than $70? Add in benefits: life insurance, health care, pension and so on. But not just the benefits that the current workers actually receive – after all, it’s pretty rare for the value of a benefits package to add up to more than wages paid, even with a really, really good health plan in place. What’s causing the number to balloon is the cost of providing benefits to tens of thousands of retired auto workers and their surviving spouses. “
