Buy two tanks of gas with strike pay at Lansing GM plant
May 07, 2008
The one hope for the auto industry here in Lansing (MI) at the General Motors plant making the new crossover utility vehicles is tarnished with the current strike over a local contract.
If you drive by the plant which makes the hottest-selling vehicles that GM has and you see a picket line where workers are waving their "On Strike" signs with confident smiles. But, a story in today's Lansing State Journal puts the situation in another reality.
UAW strikers get $200 per week in strike pay. What does that mean for day-to-day living?
- How far does $200 go these days? At current prices, that's enough to buy 57 gallons of gasoline - enough to fill an Acadia gas tank about 2 1/2 times.
- According to the U.S. Census, the median rent in the Lansing area is $490 a month. The median monthly homeowner expense runs $948 a month.
So, you have this hot-selling vehicle which is not being made because of a strike and if it was being made a smaller and smaller number of people would be able to afford to fill it up at the gas pump.
Not good.