Southern economic policies undermine job quality for auto workers : Rooted in Racism and Economic Exploitation : Spotlight

Chandra Childers

The growing auto manufacturing industry in the South offers a powerful opportunity to bring good jobs to the region. But as these jobs shift from the Midwest to the South, we see a decline in job quality in the sector. Why? The prevailing Southern economic development model disempowers workers, and as a result auto workers in the South:Are paid less than their counterparts in other regions, even when their income is adjusted for regional differences in the cost of living;Report high levels of illness, injury, and even death, amid eroding worker safety protections;Face anti-union hostility from policymakers and employers, including in the forms of right-to-work laws and union-busting activities.