Capitalists and capitalist corporations – even wealthy and powerful ones like Amazon, Ford and General Motors, or ExxonMobil and British Petroleum – are always competing with one another to cut their labor costs in order to produce their commodities more efficiently and therefore more profitably. When the big owners and corporate CEO’s say they have to cut costs to “remain competitive,” they’re often telling the truth.
But the so-called Big-Three automakers have plenty of money padding their bank accounts. After forcing concessions on their workers during and after the 2008 crisis, their combined profits grew by 92% between 2013 and 2022, totaling $250 billion. And when discussing how to best cut costs, it’s funny how they never look at their costliest and most inefficient workers: themselves! Ford’s CEO was paid $21 million in 2022, a 21% increase of the previous CEO’s salary. GM’s CEO took home $29 million in 2022, and Stellantis’ CEO also walked away with a cool $21 million.
These highly paid leeches are lucky the autoworkers aren’t demanding a lot more!
