Job description: Do nothing all day at autoworker rates
02-15-2006, 08:32 PM
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Job description: Do nothing all day at autoworker rates
http://www.mcall.com/business/local/...,6630778.story
Job description: Do nothing all day at autoworker rates
No-layoff labor pacts leave workers in limbo.
By Stephen Franklin
Special to The Morning Call
FLINT, Mich. | All day Judy Rowe sits in a room at a large, old Delphi Corp. auto parts plant here, reading, sewing or staring into space.
For this she earns $31.80 an hour. There are 70 people in this room, all employed by Delphi and protected by the United Auto Workers union. They clock in at 6 a.m. and clock out at 2:30.
But there is nothing for them to do in between.
''I think I'm slipping into a depression,'' said Rowe, who has been languishing for six years in this strange and very unique form of unionized employment limbo known as the jobs bank.
If there was work to do, they would be on the manufacturing lines. But there isn't. And they can't be laid off because of their union contracts includes this unique provision.
The jobs bank is a bullpen of sorts for surplus workers. It was designed two decades ago as a temporary haven that has become a permanent and expensive catch basin for declining auto industry companies.
There are 4,000 workers in the jobs bank at bankrupt Delphi Corp., and another 6,300 in the jobs banks at struggling Ford and General Motors. There are 2,500 more at Chrysler.
At the Delphi plant, they get their full salaries for sitting in a large room. They get a lunch break. At other jobs banks, employees are allowed to do community service.
This system has never before been challenged seriously, despite the extraordinary cost of carrying ghost work forces that earn not just their pay but accrue benefits, vacation time and seniority credits.
Now, the quietest employees at the plant are at the center of attention. Delphi, which is reorganizing itself in bankruptcy court, has made it clear it wants to kill the jobs bank. Ford and GM, which will begin to negotiate their next contracts with the UAW, are believed to be watching this process closely, with the hope that they can unload their job-banked employees, as well.
To the UAW, the jobs bank is protection for workers, a tool to prevent companies from transferring jobs and a testament to its clout.
To Wall Street and auto industry executives, the jobs bank is an albatross because of the extraordinary waste of resources. It burdens troubled companies at a cost of $130,000 per worker, an expense that foreign competitors don't have.
''It's basically several hundred million dollars of costs that [the auto companies] are incurring and that they are getting nothing for,'' said David Healy, an auto industry analyst for Burnham Securities.
The showdown over the future of jobs banks appears under way at Delphi. The company had more than 10 percent of its work force last year in its jobs bank, at a cost of a $400 million annually, according to the company.
In order to survive, Delphi Chairman Robert ''Steve'' Miller said last year said that his company needed to slash wages by nearly two-thirds and to dump programs like the jobs bank.
Amid UAW threats of a walkout, Miller stopped issuing such warnings.
But as soon as Friday, the company can ask the U.S. Bankruptcy Court to set aside its labor agreements. That means the company could unilaterally kill the jobs bank.
Stephen Franklin is a reporter for the Chicago Tribune, a Tribune Publishing newspaper.
Job description: Do nothing all day at autoworker rates
No-layoff labor pacts leave workers in limbo.
By Stephen Franklin
Special to The Morning Call
FLINT, Mich. | All day Judy Rowe sits in a room at a large, old Delphi Corp. auto parts plant here, reading, sewing or staring into space.
For this she earns $31.80 an hour. There are 70 people in this room, all employed by Delphi and protected by the United Auto Workers union. They clock in at 6 a.m. and clock out at 2:30.
But there is nothing for them to do in between.
''I think I'm slipping into a depression,'' said Rowe, who has been languishing for six years in this strange and very unique form of unionized employment limbo known as the jobs bank.
If there was work to do, they would be on the manufacturing lines. But there isn't. And they can't be laid off because of their union contracts includes this unique provision.
The jobs bank is a bullpen of sorts for surplus workers. It was designed two decades ago as a temporary haven that has become a permanent and expensive catch basin for declining auto industry companies.
There are 4,000 workers in the jobs bank at bankrupt Delphi Corp., and another 6,300 in the jobs banks at struggling Ford and General Motors. There are 2,500 more at Chrysler.
At the Delphi plant, they get their full salaries for sitting in a large room. They get a lunch break. At other jobs banks, employees are allowed to do community service.
This system has never before been challenged seriously, despite the extraordinary cost of carrying ghost work forces that earn not just their pay but accrue benefits, vacation time and seniority credits.
Now, the quietest employees at the plant are at the center of attention. Delphi, which is reorganizing itself in bankruptcy court, has made it clear it wants to kill the jobs bank. Ford and GM, which will begin to negotiate their next contracts with the UAW, are believed to be watching this process closely, with the hope that they can unload their job-banked employees, as well.
To the UAW, the jobs bank is protection for workers, a tool to prevent companies from transferring jobs and a testament to its clout.
To Wall Street and auto industry executives, the jobs bank is an albatross because of the extraordinary waste of resources. It burdens troubled companies at a cost of $130,000 per worker, an expense that foreign competitors don't have.
''It's basically several hundred million dollars of costs that [the auto companies] are incurring and that they are getting nothing for,'' said David Healy, an auto industry analyst for Burnham Securities.
The showdown over the future of jobs banks appears under way at Delphi. The company had more than 10 percent of its work force last year in its jobs bank, at a cost of a $400 million annually, according to the company.
In order to survive, Delphi Chairman Robert ''Steve'' Miller said last year said that his company needed to slash wages by nearly two-thirds and to dump programs like the jobs bank.
Amid UAW threats of a walkout, Miller stopped issuing such warnings.
But as soon as Friday, the company can ask the U.S. Bankruptcy Court to set aside its labor agreements. That means the company could unilaterally kill the jobs bank.
Stephen Franklin is a reporter for the Chicago Tribune, a Tribune Publishing newspaper.
02-16-2006, 01:23 PM
#7
6G TLX-S
It's just a matter of time before the auto makers have to really confront the UAW. Otherwise the whole US auto industry will be brought down, and then even more people suffer.
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02-16-2006, 09:47 PM
#12
Originally Posted by JackieO
What's funny is that she is complaining about it.
02-16-2006, 10:48 PM
#13
Suzuka Master
Originally Posted by Shawn S
http://www.mcall.com/business/local/...,6630778.story
Job description: Do nothing all day at autoworker rates
No-layoff labor pacts leave workers in limbo.
By Stephen Franklin
Special to The Morning Call
For this she earns $31.80 an hour. There are 70 people in this room, all employed by Delphi and protected by the United Auto Workers union. They clock in at 6 a.m. and clock out at 2:30.
To Wall Street and auto industry executives, the jobs bank is an albatross because of the extraordinary waste of resources. It burdens troubled companies at a cost of $130,000 per worker, an expense that foreign competitors don't have.
''It's basically several hundred million dollars of costs that [the auto companies] are incurring and that they are getting nothing for,'' said David Healy, an auto industry analyst for Burnham Securities.
Job description: Do nothing all day at autoworker rates
No-layoff labor pacts leave workers in limbo.
By Stephen Franklin
Special to The Morning Call
For this she earns $31.80 an hour. There are 70 people in this room, all employed by Delphi and protected by the United Auto Workers union. They clock in at 6 a.m. and clock out at 2:30.
To Wall Street and auto industry executives, the jobs bank is an albatross because of the extraordinary waste of resources. It burdens troubled companies at a cost of $130,000 per worker, an expense that foreign competitors don't have.
''It's basically several hundred million dollars of costs that [the auto companies] are incurring and that they are getting nothing for,'' said David Healy, an auto industry analyst for Burnham Securities.
2000 hrs/year X $31.80 = $63,600
To get to $130K per year that means that benefits, overhead, and administrative costs work out to $66,400 per year.
02-22-2006, 09:49 AM
#15
I'm the Firestarter
Originally Posted by JackieO
What's funny is that she is complaining about it.
I've been in a similar situation recently and it is very depressing to have nothing to do. In fact, it's pretty much been the lowest and most depressing point of my career, even though I can just surf all day at work. When a person doesn't feel needed at work anymore it really makes a huge hole in your life. You long for the days when you had too much work. Getting laid off is obviously worse in most ways, but at least you have the incentive to get off your butt and look for real work.
02-22-2006, 11:03 AM
#16
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Originally Posted by Belzebutt
I've been in a similar situation recently and it is very depressing to have nothing to do. In fact, it's pretty much been the lowest and most depressing point of my career, even though I can just surf all day at work.
02-22-2006, 02:43 PM
#17
6G TLX-S
Originally Posted by Belzebutt
Not at all.
I've been in a similar situation recently and it is very depressing to have nothing to do. In fact, it's pretty much been the lowest and most depressing point of my career, even though I can just surf all day at work. When a person doesn't feel needed at work anymore it really makes a huge hole in your life. You long for the days when you had too much work. Getting laid off is obviously worse in most ways, but at least you have the incentive to get off your butt and look for real work.
I've been in a similar situation recently and it is very depressing to have nothing to do. In fact, it's pretty much been the lowest and most depressing point of my career, even though I can just surf all day at work. When a person doesn't feel needed at work anymore it really makes a huge hole in your life. You long for the days when you had too much work. Getting laid off is obviously worse in most ways, but at least you have the incentive to get off your butt and look for real work.
02-23-2006, 09:12 AM
#19
Suzuka Master
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: Lower Nazzie, Pa
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Originally Posted by 04EuroAccordTsx
Where can I send my resume to apply for this job?
Shizz, I thought I made a good decision going to college...maybe I should've just learned a trade while in high school.
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