Posted on 11/15/2008 11:02:50 AM PST by engrpat
COLUMBUS, Ohio – Even as Detroit's Big Three teeter on collapse, United Auto Workers President Ron Gettelfinger says workers will not make any more concessions and that getting the automakers back on their feet means figuring out a way to turn around the slumping economy.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
The Rubber Room is where UAW members who have no duties sit and read after they have gone on the clock at the auto plant. Paid for doing nothing.
Eff ‘em. If this is the attitude of the UAW, let all three automakers go under, and all the union idiots can go be greeters at Wal-Mart for ten bucks an hour.
But frankly, if GM were forced into bankruptcy, someone would come buy the assets, void the union contracts, make a few less cars, make a few better cars with a non-unionized workforce, sell ‘em for less, and make a whole lot of money.
Money for Nothing U.S. Car Companies Pay Hundreds of Millions of Dollars in Wages to Idled Workers
In his 34 years working for General Motors, one of Jerry Mellon's toughest assignments came this January.He spent a week in the "rubber room."
The room is a windowless old storage shed in Flint, Mich. It is filled with long tables, Mr. Mellon says, and has space for about 400 employees. They must arrive at 6 a.m. each day and stay until 2:30 p.m., with 45 minutes off for lunch. A supervisor roams the aisles, signing people out when they want to use the bathroom.
Their job: to do nothing.
This is the Jobs Bank, a two-decade-old program in which nearly 15,000 auto workers continue to get paid after their companies stop needing them. To earn wages and benefits that often top $100,000 a year, the workers must perform some company-approved activity. Many volunteer or go back to school. The rest clock time in the rubber room or something like it.
It is called the rubber room, Mr. Mellon says, because "a few days in there makes you go crazy."
The Jobs Bank at GM and other U.S. auto companies including Ford Motor is likely to cost around $1.4 billion to $2 billion this year. The programs, which are up for renewal next year when union contracts expire, have become a symbol of why Detroit struggles even as Japanese auto makers with big U.S. operations prosper.
Let them eat cake!
My point being, Toyota and others already have market share and only have to spit Detroit out in their gains. They don't want what the "big 3" has left to offer.
I haven’t bought an American vehicle since 1986. Why should I feel bad or have my gov. bail out a substandard product that can’t compete?
“I only owned Ford & GM my entire life. That’s ended; I’ve bought my last “American” car. I’m now a consumer “free agent” with my brand loyalty available to the best deal.”
Same here. Between my wife and myself, our first three new cars were two Saturns and an S-10 pickup. No more. The quality (especially the Saturns) were horrible. I had read that Saturns improved since the mid/late 90s, but this is not the case. I can’t complain too much about the S-10, but I don’t have a need for a truck as much as I used to.
Anyway, I might want to suggest Honda. I have a 2005 Element and it is outstanding. Basically keep on top of your oil changes, add gas, and the thing goes. Same holds true for Accords, Civics, etc. Moreover, over 80% of Hondas are made here in the USA, so you are still supporting American workers. It’s like what GM could be if it weren’t for the UAW.
As soon as GM ditches the UAW and gets their act in order, I’ll be the first in line to support them again....even if it would mean some growing pains....until then, well, they can pop more viagra while looking at Honda/Toyota results.
We have a Buick and a Chevy truck. My wife wants to dump the Buick and get a new car and we have agreed it will not be from the Big 3. There are some great buys out there from other manufactures that make great products that I am sure won’t be going bankrupt and their dealership will be there when needed.
Screw the unions. They can abd should be busted.
UAW has free lifetime health benefits, 100% pay and extortion working for them now.
Get those facts out to the masses and see how they spin it. They have nowhere to go but down.
I don't know and don't care what their breakup values are, but it is obvious that capitalists have no interest in these companies.
The 1930s labor/management model is dead. Bury it.
Yes.
If jobs are being lost because the company is not producing anything that people want to buy, then “saving” those “jobs” by funneling guvmint money into them is only another form of welfare-—because it does nothing to help the company produce something that people want to buy.
I agree with everything you said except that it will be politically damaging to the Rats to attempt an auto bailout.
Nitwits will just remember that the guvmint tried to do something to help-—awwwww, Obama *cares.* And he *tried.*
For libs, it’s only intent, not results that matter.
Yep, “AUTO PLANT FOR SALE - PRICE REDUCED, OWNER MOTIVATED”
You may be right.
As someone said on another thread, right now GM is only an HMO that happens to also make a few cars and trucks.
I admit I have been contemplating lately how in the world this country might bring the economies of MI, OH and even PA into the 21st century.
Propping up the old way can’t work much longer.
Very insightful.
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