Made in the U.S.a. -- Cheaper

With the United Auto Workers' announcement last week that it had chosen Ford as its lead target, negotiations on a new three-year contract between U.A.W. and the Big Three automakers began in earnest. The key issue is the labor-cost advantages enjoyed by Japanese companies with transplant factories in the U.S. These factories are nonunion, their employees are young and they have few retirees.

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CREDIT: [TMFONT 1 d #666666 d {Sources: Company bargaining reports. Office for the Study of Automobile Transportation (University of Michigan), Economic Strategy Institute}]CAPTION: WAGES

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