Concession Time: What will the UAW throw off to keep the Big Three afloat?

The National Review ^ | December 3, 2008 | Stephen Spruiell

[OBXWanderer]

Workers with at least ten years of seniority are eligible for the Job Opportunity Bank Security program. This is the notorious jobs bank that allows laid-off workers to receive their regular hourly pay while sitting around doing crossword puzzles or reading the paper. If GM offers these employees an opportunity to transfer to another plant, they have the right to turn down a limited number of such offers. And if no offer is made, they can stay in the jobs bank until they retire. GM currently has around 1,400 workers nationwide in the jobs bank.

Un fr*gg#n believable

[EGPWS]

Who will be our Maggie?

Barack Obama? ~snort

[Spktyr]

Considering the low quality I’ve been seeing the “guys on the line” churn out, they’re *still* overpaid.

[muawiyah]

You buy expensive cars don’t you. I don’t.

[EGPWS]

Are you saying that $70/hour is not fair for putting a bumper on a car?

What kind of health and retirement benefits are there to make that "chump change" worth a look at? /s

[Spktyr]

Consider this then - since the Jobs Bank is being offered up as a sacrificial goat, then it must still exist. It makes logical sense, no?

[Blood of Tyrants]

Once the health-care provisions of these contracts take effect in 2010

Except that by 2010 there might not be a GM or Chrysler or Ford.

[Bean Counter]

[Spktyr]

A Nissan Pathfinder is an expensive car???

Also, ask Merp on this board about his former 2001 Corvette, “the pride of the UAW”.... that they “forgot” to put oil rings on the pistons and couldn’t be bothered to finish bolting his steering column in.

[RKBA Democrat]

Concessions in the long run are a nonissue. The UAW is producing products that most of the public isn’t interested in buying.

[muawiyah]

I could tell you about a '55 Chevy that still had the broken drill stem that broke off in a critical boring for moving oil through the engine block.

But I won't.

[muawiyah]

From $27,000 to $36,000 I’ll have to say yes. I’ve never paid that for a car or truck.

[Spktyr]

I clarify: An 18 year old Nissan Pathfinder is an expensive truck?

[Mr. Jeeves]

Q: If the UAW thinks a bailout will work, why don't they use the depressed stock price as an opportunity to just buy GM outright and make it a union-owned company?

A: Because they would have to run it like a business, and there would be no money left for big salaries, big pensions, or big contributions to Democrats.

[muawiyah]

A brand new one is an expensive vehicle. One that’s 20 years old is also expensive ~ to keep running!

[Spktyr]

As for my other cars, I paid $5000 for my XJR, $1200 for my Pathfinder, and $800 for this:

All of which are still bolted together better than some of the NEW UAW stuff I've seen lately.

[Spktyr]

Really? Hm, I guess you think $300/year average maintenance is expensive then - pretty much all I’ve had to do to it is fluid changes since I got it.

It was cheaper to maintain than my Jeep. You really need to get your head out of domestic-land - imports are often cheaper to run.

[muawiyah]

I paid $200 for one of the original Toyota Corollas. What a nasty little car ~ but I just drove it to and from the corner to catch a bus to downtown DC.

One day I observed that the trunk was full of gasoline. The floor had rusted through into the gas tank.

[ridesthemiles]

Unions are a microcosm of socialism on a per-company basis. They are bleeding their hosts dry and are too greedy to acknowledge it.

What ever happened to pride in an honest day’s pay for an honest day’s work?

Time to read STLAS SHRUGGED for the first time if you never have before...a re-reading if you did at least once before.

[Spktyr]

And I could tell you about the Toyota pickup truck I had that someone shot the engine block with a .44, which cracked it and the cylinder wall, and it was still running happily. You could SEE the piston going up and down!

It was down quite a bit on power, but it didn’t care.