Car Wars 2011

Ford and General Motors are expected to distribute sizable profit sharing checks to workers, a sure sign of the rebound of these two domestic automobile companies. Also of note, is the labor cost reductions which have contributed to the recovery. Money quote:

The gap in labor costs between Detroit and the foreign-owned factories in the United States has narrowed considerably. Ford’s total labor cost for a worker — a combination of wages, benefits and pensions — has been reduced more than 20 percent and is now about $59 an hour, compared to $56 at Toyota, according to the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor, Mich.

This, of course, goes a long way towards explaining the UAW's promised effort to organize the domestic plants of foreign automakers.