UAW Feels The Heat And Suspends Job Bank And Delays Trust Payments Until 2010

The UAW has agreed to suspend the Jobs Bank program and allow the Detroit 3 to delay making payments to a retiree health care trust in 2010 to help the automakers through their cash crisis, UAW President Ron Gettelfinger said.

Gettelfinger spoke after summoning the presidents and chairmen from Detroit 3 locals for an emergency meeting in Detroit today.

The union is willing to make modifications to the 2007 contracts reached with General Motors, Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler LLC, said Jeff Everett, a local Chrysler president who attended the meeting. He said concessions on wages and benefits for active workers weren't discussed.

"Times are tough, and we are going to do what we have to do,'' said Everett, president of UAW Local 1166 in Kokomo, Ind., in an interview. Under the so-called Jobs Bank program, laid-off factory workers can receive as much as 95 percent of their regular pay. The payouts have drawn scorn from opponents of federal aid who see them as a sign of Detroit's excess.

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njsidekick3 - 12/3/2008 3:38:35 PM

+1 Boost

www.youtube.com/watch?v=2VH8kl-RqcM

EL34 - 12/3/2008 7:29:08 PM

+2 Boost

The UAW can die and go to hell on Christmas morning.

:-)

SteedPub - 12/3/2008 11:20:19 PM

0 Boost

You are my new favorite person.

woood - 12/3/2008 10:06:05 PM

+2 Boost

UAW is obsolete. Period.

bestofallcad - 12/3/2008 10:35:10 PM

+1 Boost

Yes they can they are putting the American car companys under. If the imports had to deal with the UAW they would be in trouble also. Get rid of the damn unions..............

neutral - 12/3/2008 11:00:03 PM

+1 Boost

No more job bank... no problem. Not that I hate the job bank idea... just if it were for minimum wage or something..

For everyone who hates the union so much.. and for no good reason... the real problem with the UAW rules (and not the majority of the UAW workers) are the factory rules.

Its hard to explain it all.. you just have to experience it. Its sad that there are so many good workers who have to put up with some of the UAW rules like "job descriptions".

People think Im all pro UAW, etc... truth is, im not too hot on some of the practices of the UAW, but that stuff is all but over.

Lets see if detroit can get any money... the media puts Michael moore on TV and guess what... people bought his crap.

He said we need to force GM to keep tens of thousands of extra workers it can't afford. he wants GM to make roads, bridges, and hybrids... two of which are not what GM does and hybrids are not going to be mainstream overnight because that fat waste of space says they are going to be. Unfortunately, most of America is too stupid to think for themselves and believe whatever the TV says.

SteedPub - 12/3/2008 11:22:03 PM

+2 Boost

I have not heard about this on TV, so not so sure about it.

Agent009 - 12/4/2008 8:57:46 AM

+2 Boost

1UAW- Detroit News reports it is still an active item:

Local leaders agreed on Wednesday to immediately suspend the jobs bank, which has 3,542 workers. Suspending the program just as the automakers prepare to eliminate more workers also prevents the newly laid off from joining it in the months ahead, company officials said.

beetee - 12/4/2008 9:20:58 PM

+1 Boost

1UAW, I'm not trying to pile on, but if there was no more job bank, wouldn't the appropriate response from the UAW be the same as yours instead of them agreeing to SUSPEND (not do away with) the job bank? Wouldn't they just have said that there is no more job bank so this is a moot point?

Believe it or not, the job bank isn't what I believe the UAW's biggest negative is. What I find absolutely abhorrent is how the UAW adds an speedbumps to process or design changes at a UAW plant.

Right now things are slow in our plant. An engineer suggests an idea where we take a team comprised of the factory's top performers and put them on a single line and have them crank out the best shift (in terms of output, safety, etc) that they can to set a baseline. After that, the rest of the workers are observed and coached while they work by the top team until they reach the level set by the top team.

Let's say this idea was brought to the plant manager by a junior engineer who heard of the technique while working in a foreign competitor's plant. The plant manager LOVES the idea and decides to implement it immediately.

This actually happened at an auto plant. The plant manager called HQ on a Friday, HQ approved it, and they began work on it that Monday.

Would such a thing take the same number of steps at a UAW plant? If not, why?