Rough Month Ahead For GM Employees (no job bank anymore)

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.wilx.com/news/headlines/37015894.html

Posted: 4:59 PM Jan 2, 2009

Reporter: John Tramontana
Email Address: [e-mail]

"This is the worst I've seen it."

Thousands out of work and plants with no signs of life. It's what Lansing can expect at its two GM plants for the next month.

"It's discouraging. It's almost despairing," said UAW local 602 president Brian Fredline.

He says this latest round of layoffs could be the worst yet. With no jobs bank to fall back on, employees may struggle to stay on their feet.

"There is not a jobs bank to go to anymore. That was one of the fundamentally proactive things the UAW did to remove our safety net."

The UAW gave up the jobs bank to help GM get a bridge loan from the federal government. That safety net gave long -term laid off employees about 95% of their pay. While the two plants only plant to shut down for a month, hundreds will be facing indefinite layoffs as production slows.

FULL story at link.

[Idealism]

1. According to UAW contract negotiations

The Jobs Bank program was eliminated when they last met with Detroit, the same time their new hirees got the 50% pay cut.

[Duckhunter935]

2. I hate to be crass

But to pay a person 95% of regular pay for not working just can not be these days. How long would they recieve that pay for? What is unemployment insurance for? I agree the unions have given more than they need to and management has not but some things just make no scents

[Earth Bound Misfit]

5. Found some info on the Jobs bank in these articles...

http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/uaw-job-bank-not-gone-yet-but-its-almost-gone/
UAW: Job Bank “not gone yet but it’s almost gone”

Gettelfinger’s “almost gone” quote refers to the fact that the job bank was reduced in the last Union contract. Sort of. In the past, laid-off workers could be paid for nothing indefinitely as long as they didn’t turn down two job offers within 50 miles of their factory. The 2007 contract imposes a two-year time limit, and workers are out of the jobs bank if they turn down one job within 50 miles or four jobs anywhere in the country, according to Forbes. Now there are about 1,000 union members in jobs banks, which means that it’s “almost gone” compared to the 12k of about three years ago.

Here's a comment made by a current GM worker in the Jobs bank program:

am currently employed by one of the “Big” 3. The one that starts with a G. Anyway, I am in the job bank. I am still at my plant, I’m not on layoff status. And I haven’t sat a single minute since being placed in the bank. I am on the floor, working, either covering vacations, sick leaves or absences. Once you are placed in the bank you basically have to do what they tell you to. Many do not realize that we were understaffed going into this, so extra bodies are just that. We are there to free up “more important people” ie: UAW reps, or people with knowledge of the entire line. Those people are presently called CI’s or continuous improvement. They were previously referred to as AR’s or absentee replacements. New contracts, new names. But, they, obviously, have more knowledge regarding jobs, therefore more “valuable” than me. Any other questions?

http://www.detnews.com/2005/autosinsider/0510/17/A01-351179.htm

The jobs bank was established during 1984 labor contract talks between the UAW and the Big Three. The union, still reeling from the loss of 500,000 jobs during the recession of the late 1970s and early 1980s, was determined to protect those who were left. Detroit automakers were eager to win union support to boost productivity through increased automation and more production flexibility.

The result was a plan to guarantee pay and benefits for union members whose jobs fell victim to technological progress or plant restructurings. In most cases, workers end up in the jobs bank only after they have exhausted their government unemployment benefits, which are also supplemented by the companies through a related program. In some cases, workers go directly into the program and the benefits can last until they are eligible to retire or return to the factory floor.

By making it so expensive to keep paying idled workers, the UAW thought Detroit automakers would avoid layoffs. By discouraging layoffs, the union thought it could prevent outsourcing.

That strategy has worked but at the expense of the domestic auto industry's long-term viability.

[madrchsod]

3. that fucking sucks

i did`t know they gave up the job bank..that is really bad. maybe they can get the foreign trade assistance program. i lived on that program for almost three years in the early 80`s.

[Duckhunter935]

4. program for almost three years

How can they not have pass this cost on to consumers? The compitition does not have anything like this that I know of. I can see a couple of weeks for model changeover but three years, I hope I am wrong on this. you recieved 95% pay for almost three years for not working?

[madrchsod]

6. yes the early 80`s sucked. i made to much an hour in the 70`s

and no one wanted to hire me for less wages. there were a lot of guys around here that used to make good union wages that were passed over for jobs....i went into my own business with the last of my unemployment insurance money and finally found another decent union job at a steel mill in 1988.

[Omaha Steve]

7. I think you missed on the 3 year benefit

Foreign trade assistance program is not the job bank.