UAW considers dropping "job bank" for idled workers
As you read this, there are about 3,000 unionized workers -- down from about 15,000 two years ago -- employed by the Detroit 3 getting paid, despite the fact that they aren't working. While it's nice for America's automakers to have access to a talent-pool of available workers, it's also a major financial drain on an industry that's already reeling from a distinct lack of profits. And with new cutbacks and layoffs being announced almost daily, these "job banks" are increasingly tough to justify, even for the UAW. It's always been a bit of a competitive disadvantage, at least on paper, as non-UAW competitors like Honda, Toyota, Nissan and Hyundai do not keep such job banks. To ease Detroit's transition from bloated, money-losing corporations to lean "right-sized" competitors, UAW Prez. Ron Gettelfinger has brought up the job banks and their possible elimination. Will this be a part of the overall plan to become competitive that the Detroit 3 bring to Congress? We'll find out soon enough.[Source: Wall Street Journal]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
From My Cube 3:08PM (12/01/2008)
what is the point of a "job bank"...why not do what EVERY OTHER COPORATION IN AMERICA DOES...if you have layoffs...write down a little note about who the good workers are ( that had to be cut) and keep them in a file...when you need workers again...
get this, you pull out the file and try calling them to see if they need a job?
I swear, i could walk into the UAW and kick a few faces and save some serious money...I mean honestly at this point, does Ford or GM care if UAW workers walk off the job? What are GM and FOrd going to loose? Sure a few hundred cars and trucks that wont sell anyways but you can then rehire non UAW workers
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jv2k 3:20PM (12/01/2008)
LOL.
You'd wind up in an oil drum dumped in a swamp.
Don't mess with the mob.
Jake B 3:49PM (12/01/2008)
Job Banks make sense for most unions. However unions do not make sense for the Auto Industry. Up here in Alaska in Prudhoe Bay, the oil companies use unionized labor that utilize job banks. Workers get directed from work site to work site per the Union who gets the contracts from the various oil contractors and companies in Alaska. It really makes sense up here, but not for a worker that isn't moving all over the place to different job sites.
vin 4:55PM (12/01/2008)
Hey Ron MiddleFinger ...
You are Considering it? WTF
And you say Unions are not the problem...
Randy 12:49AM (12/02/2008)
Wow. I didn't even know there was such a thing! Learn something new every day! And at this I'm disgusted! It's a gross display of UAW power! What a waste of money!
Um, can I join? I mean I have a 9-5er now but..... ;)
iQuack 3:12PM (12/01/2008)
Considering the number of bank failures these days, it's refreshing to learn that maybe.......just maybe......the Job Bank at GM will fail.
The UAW better look for ways to "give back" because they're the dopes who killed GM in the first place (with the help of bad GM management, of course).
Time to bust the UAW for good and operate domestic auto factories the way Honda and Toyota do in the U.S. Auto manufacturing is alive and well in the U.S.A. so long as you ignore the dinosaurs in Michigan.
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Snix 3:17PM (12/01/2008)
I think the temperature in hell just cooled off a few degrees.
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hoosker_doo 3:15PM (12/01/2008)
Hmm, I don’t think I understand this issue enough. Does the Big 3 need the UAW if their competitors are doing as well, or better, without a big worker's union? Are conditions still so poor that Detroit’s auto workers need unions? Someone put this in perspective for me because I don’t understand :(
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220v 3:30PM (12/01/2008)
Rest assured GM, Ford and Chrysler need the UAW like they need a hole in the head. Unions, in all trades and industries, are from an era gone by. We now have sufficient regulation and oversight in government that make unions COMPLETELY IRRELEVANT.
I wish the UAW a horrible and painful death, which is long overdue.
ALPA and AFA - y'all are next...
David 4:07PM (12/01/2008)
Just because GM's competitors are not directly associated with the UAW does not mean they are unaffected. They absolutely have to adjust their pay and benefits to match those that the big three negotiate with the UAW. If the union goes away altogether, *all* auto manufacturers doing business in the United States will be changing their salary and benefit structure.
Fau Veh 4:55PM (12/01/2008)
Coincidentally, I was just discussing this issue with my cousin (an engineer at a Japanese car company) and his friend (former GM employee - now also works for the same Japanese car company). To hear them tell it, the Job Bank is a natural result of the adversarial culture in place at GM - where the company tries to exact as many concessions as it can from its workforce, while the unionized employees try to get as much as they can from the company. Evidently, it used to be much worse (!) - My cousin's friend said that while he worked for GM, employees in the job bank were free to take other jobs while they were laid off and still drawing a percentage of their pay from GM. Moreover, employees could stay in the Job Bank for years - during which they were drawing two paychecks - one from their new job and one from GM. He said that his plant began requiring Job Bank employees to come in, even though they had nothing to do, just to prevent this sort of "double dipping." Of course, then you had a bunch of people coming in, watching TV or playing cards for 8 hours, and then going home.
As far as calling the UAW irrelevant, I don't know that I would go that far - they certainly got greedy - but, I think they can still play a (diminished) role in maintaining a decent standard of living for auto workers. For example, the automobile manufacturer for whom my cousin works is a non-union enterprise - they stay that way, in part, by providing their employees with competitive wages and benefits - and to determine what competitive is, they benchmark UAW wages and benefits.
I guess I am curious as to whether the mere threat of unionization can be as effective in convincing car companies to provide their employees with a higher wages or benefits as the presence of an existing and entrenched union.
Golferal 3:16PM (12/01/2008)
That ringing you hear is the death knoll of the UAW.
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McLovin 6:50PM (12/01/2008)
That would have been a really funny comment if you knew how to spell. A knoll doesn't ring. I think you meant knell.
Knoll - a small hill.
Knell - To give forth a mournful or ominous sound
Maybe it was a typo? ... if you use DVORAK.
You're welcome.
Golferal 7:16PM (12/01/2008)
It was a typo indeed.
I suppose after the death knell we could bury them in a death knoll, yes?
PS: Don't be so smug, it's really douchey. (I know that's not a word but I still like it.)
Alex 3:19PM (12/01/2008)
Now if only they could get rid of VEBA...
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Biff Baxter - All American 3:23PM (12/01/2008)
To Brother Ron -
Too little - Too late.
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den_in_IN 3:45PM (12/01/2008)
Nice try, we'll just bust that darn union and save loads. At the first comment every UAW worker at every supplier in the country will instantly go on strike and nothing will get built until the union is back in. It really only takes a few strikes to shut things down far and wide and they won't go without a fight.
Actually this is probably an offensive (and offensive) move to take attention away from huge amounts of featherbedding in factories all over the country.
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inteller 4:34PM (12/01/2008)
yes but you are ASSuming that GM et al actually wants them to work. Remember when we had the transmission strike earlier in the year. GM wasn't exactly begging for them to come back and build more heavy trucks. That strike ended with a "deal" pretty quick.
Golferal 7:31PM (12/01/2008)
This thought had occurred to me also. Unfortunately, nothing short of a time machine is going to get rid of the UAW now.
RamblinReck89 3:48PM (12/01/2008)
If the UAW walks, how long do they think their workers can last before they go crawling back to the Big 3 begging for their jobs back? The job market can't fill anywhere near a significant percentage of those jobs. Plus non-union workers have gotta be around. Heck, you could probably hire hire high school students for $20/hour and no benefits.
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