UAW Says Entry Level Workers Deserve To Earn Middle Class Wages - Should They Get It?

United Auto Workers President Bob King said that the union is asking the Detroit Three for wage increases for new hires as part of its ongoing negotiations toward a new national labor agreement.

"We're very concerned about that entry-level member having a middle-class standard of living, which I would argue they don't at the current rates," he told reporters Monday after a speech at the Detroit Economic Club. "I would say that's our highest priority."

The two-tier wage system was a key element of the last national contract between the UAW and Ford Motor Co., General Motors Co. and Chrysler Group LLC. That agreement was ratified in 2007 and expires Sept. 14.