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Comment by Aloha | Hacker News Reader

I'm skeptical that the labor differential is as big as this article implies frankly. This strike is pretty straightforward in cause, GM wants to pay less, and wants their employees to cover more of their healthcare costs, the Union isnt okay with this.

Working in an auto plant is hard, backbreaking work that will leave you physically broken by retirement - and while the transition to electric cars may slightly reduce the amount of labor needed, it won't change how hard or backbreaking the work is.

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>Working in an auto plant is hard, backbreaking work that will leave you physically broken by retirement

Maybe 80 years ago. These fellas workin the forges and lifting those blocks certainly went home more sore than someone operating a pneumatic driver all day. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8bT6txm4RpA

There is so many ergonomic and Health/Safety stuff now.

Maybe it's hyperbole, but I wouldn't call auto assembly factory work 'backbreaking' by any stretch.

there is more that goes into cars than just vehicle assembly, for example, stamping and casting plants (and yes, GM still stamps and casts it's own body components) - its still highly repetitive motions - so while its better now, its still not an easy job, and will wear your body out.

maybe you should do more than watch a youtube clip. Maybe talk to or g-d forbid, read the interviews with the striking workers who do this labor for hours on hours on their feet.

> Working in an auto plant is hard, backbreaking work that will leave you physically broken by retirement

Is it? I've watched a lot of modern car assembly line videos and it doesn't seem to be hard or backbreaking at all. Boring and tedious? Sure, here's one for GM's best selling vehicle: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Nr3I-Fddv8

At no point do you see anyone lift something heavy without the assistance of overhead cranes.

Yes, it is hard work.

That's a promotional video showing you what the most automated parts look like when automation goes perfectly. Not everything is so automated, and everything doesn't always go perfectly.

Exactly, it also doesn't cover stuff like, the stamping plants and other stuff - there is more that goes into cars than just vehicle assembly.

I'm not saying that backbreaking work doesn't exist within automotive manufacturing, but that categorizing the entire workforce as engaging in such work is clearly a gross exaggeration the way modern manufacturing is done.

Sure, backbreaking work exists within the industry, but you can also tell from how some people are dressed (just street clothes with no safety gear) and by how fast the line moves that there's a lot of jobs that are no more physically demanding than some office work or fast food work.

E.g. it's someone's job to sit in a new car and make sure all the buttons and interface elements work, or to visually inspect the paint job and flag blemishes for fixing further down the line etc.

As opposed to mining or ground work (navying)

> and wants their employees to cover more of their healthcare costs

Yes, this is important. Expect to see benefit reductions result in more strikes.

Healthcare is so stupidly broken in the U.S.

When will companies start to lobby for single payer in the face of predatory industries cutting into their compensation packages?

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