First off Ford Tier 1 starting rate at the Rouge plant, yep the F150 plant, is $12/hour for all crafts at least as of November 2018. Needless to say they're struggling to find skilled trades willing to work at that pay in downtown Detroit. And definitely union. So don't assume that the old automotive pay rates of $25-40/hour are today's rates because that ended for everybody union or not in 2009. And the union takes a bigger cut because it pays all the benefits now. Obummer really screwed the automotive workers permanently. No more $80k+ unskilled gravy jobs until retirement. And they don't pay 90% if the plant closes anymore.
Second SC is a heavily Scotch/Irish ancestry. The culture of self sufficiency and anti-organized anything is very strong. Basically it's the old South culture. Think South Jersey inland culture with crappy summer weather. Ever heard of a huge demonstration outside of college campuses in SC like you get in NY/NJ? No they don't complain, they just stop talking, get stoic, and refuse to talk to you. If a Southerner suddenly ignores you, look out because you did something wrong. That old myth about ******* beating up their wives and spending all their time drinking, smoking, and hunting is a myth. That's how they act in NY. Southerners have manners. Naturally since they hate people telling them what to do and belly aching about everything, they're naturally anti-union. Even trade unions are largely almost nonexistent. Don't get me wrong Southern ways of dealing with poor management doesn't always work but neither do unions. SC and NC are one the fastest growing regions in the country in terms of population, wages, education, the economy, jobs, you name it where populations in MI, NJ, and NY are shrinking. So if it was that bad the trend would be like it was a century ago when people were fleeing the South for jobs in MI, NJ, and NY.
Third yes it's cheaper to live in the South. Taxes are drastically lower. You can buy a much bigger house for the same money. Much less regulation. Much lower fuel taxes. All those things go into paying less for everything. Look on salary.com for the differences. The big reason is we missed out on the industrial revolution. So post civil war the economy was crap for nearly a century. In the North everybody was making tons if money so they were all too happy to spend it on various public works projects, bureacratic rules, pork barrel spending, etc. Every time some politician wanted to spend money and raise taxes on anything but the bare necessities in the South they were voted out. Fast forward 170 years later and we never had certain things so when the economy finally did pick up all the government corruption, graft, wasteful spending, burdensome regulation, and the high taxes that go with it never existed. It will probably take another hundred years to "catch up". Companies like VW, Honda, and Boeing to name a few know it so they come here.
They're not the only ones. Retirees are flocking here instead of Florida now. I moved to Georgia in 97 because I couldn't find work in MI. Every time I go looking for a job I can't find one in the North. All the job offers I ever got in the North were at least a 20-25% pay cut with lousy benefits. Even back in 2004 I was making around $65k and an automotive in the Detroit area offered $40k, lower than my starting pay in Georgia when I got out of school! In 2009 I got an offer for $65k in Milwaukee, same as I was making 5 years before then. Only time I ever got a good offer was for a plant on Long island but the cost of living was so sky high it was going to leave me making less so I passed for another "low pay" job in a southern town. So not only is it cheaper to live here but I don't see how anyone says the pay rates are lower. You have to be willing to move or drive a little, and pick jobs that have an element of skill and crappy work conditions to get high pay like anywhere but the pay is there. Coal miners in WV are hands down the highest paid skilled jobs without college in the Appalachians, often making over $100k while they poor mouth us about how bad they have it. Nobody else makes that kind of money except in cities in NJ, NY, and CA where just basic living costs $80k a year, but WV coal miners can buy a house for that much or less.
In addition most of the new plants like VW will simply close and wait for contract expiration then reopen nonunion and everybody knows it so if a plant goes union, they all lose their jobs. There is so much economic growth if there is bad management they just go some place else. Good and bad companies are struggling to find help but bad ones can't keep them. We just don't need unions right now.
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