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Detroit automakers mull plan to stop paying people who don't work

As Douglas McIntyre wrote earlier, the United Auto Workers union is in talks with some of Detroit's big three automakers to put an end to the infamous "job bank" -- a program that allows laid off factory workers to report to work and play cards, read the newspaper, and maybe do a little volunteer work while continuing to be paid full wages and benefits. (Read more about it in this 2005 piece from The Detroit News.)

In defending the job bank before Congress, UAW president Ron Gettelfinger said that, "Since September of 2005 through September of 2008, we have lost 47,000 workers at General Motors. By the same token, during that period of time and with that loss, we have all but virtually eliminated our jobs banks at all three companies."

But The Wall Street Journal reports (subscription required) that there are about 1,400 workers in the Ford (NYSE: F) job bank, 1,000 at General Motors (NYSE: GM) and 500 at Chrysler.

That's down by a lot from the numbers of a year or two ago, but the point is this: before we start asking taxpayers who have nothing to do with the problem to start peeling 25 billion dollar bills, wouldn't it be a good idea to, oh, I don't know, make sure that all the people who are on the payroll are working?

It's easy to blame the unions for the company's woes, but the bottom line is that the fault lies with the corporate management, which agreed to outrageous programs and saddled the industry with enormous legacy costs because it had no impact on the company's short-term earnings and stock price.
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Last updated: November 11, 2009: 04:08 PM

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