Hi, Guest
11-27-2005, 10:50 PM
No, the jobs bank is what was negotiated by the unions in the 80's, where basically the Big 3 *could not* lay anybody off. If they eliminate a position in a plant, due to efficiencies or whatnot, you'd go into this "jobs bank" where they were technically looking for another job within the company for you.
You'd sit there, waiting the phone to ring, collecting 95% of your pay.
The same thing happens when your plant gets shut down temporarily, because the vehicles aren't selling well. Plant shuts down, they stop making cars, but everybody still gets paid 95% of their salary.
Basically, the workers are *guaranteed* a job. And this is the only industry where this happens.
So think about it. Wonder why GM and Ford give away cars? Because, if they're not selling well, they can't just shut down the plant temporarily or permanently. Because they still have to pay the workers! They still have to pay property taxes, they still have to pay to heat the place, etc...
So if they can sell a car for more than the cost of the PARTS in it, they might as well do that, because they'll be paying anyway. They'll lose less money by giving the cars away for half price, than if they just close the plant.
This is another one of the damned rediculous benefits that were negotiated by the unions, that have crippled the big 3. It's just unsupportable.
You'd sit there, waiting the phone to ring, collecting 95% of your pay.
The same thing happens when your plant gets shut down temporarily, because the vehicles aren't selling well. Plant shuts down, they stop making cars, but everybody still gets paid 95% of their salary.
Basically, the workers are *guaranteed* a job. And this is the only industry where this happens.
So think about it. Wonder why GM and Ford give away cars? Because, if they're not selling well, they can't just shut down the plant temporarily or permanently. Because they still have to pay the workers! They still have to pay property taxes, they still have to pay to heat the place, etc...
So if they can sell a car for more than the cost of the PARTS in it, they might as well do that, because they'll be paying anyway. They'll lose less money by giving the cars away for half price, than if they just close the plant.
This is another one of the damned rediculous benefits that were negotiated by the unions, that have crippled the big 3. It's just unsupportable.