GMs latest brilliant move: paid to do nothing!

Full Article;
http://northjersey.com/page.php?qstr...Y3dnFlZUVFeXky

Selected Excerpts...

Quote:

---

...Cusumano is one of 950 workers who lost their jobs April 20 when GM closed the Linden plant. Under its agreement with the United Auto Workers, GM will pay laid-off workers' full salaries until the current labor contract expires in September 2007.

The program is called the Jobs Bank, and it gives employees three options for getting their paycheck: They can work for a non-profit community organization, take classes or show up at the plant - and do nothing. It was designed to help laid-off auto workers transition into other occupations...

---

So they got laid off and get paid for 2.5 more years??

Quote:

---

"...The good-paying jobs won't be out there for the kids who don't want to go to college," Cusumano says. "What are they going to do?"...

---

I dunno? Go to college???

Quote:

---

Meanwhile, GM pays $1,525 in health-care costs for every vehicle that comes off its assembly lines - more than it pays for the steel. The annual total for health coverage |is $5 billion. GM retirees, who receive pensions and health insurance but produce nothing, outnumber current employees 2½ to 1.

GM hourly employees in U.S.
1977: 580,000
2004: 150,000

GM retirees and surviving spouses (both hourly and salaried workers):
1977: 183,000
2004: 458,000

---

Remind me not to invest in GM ;)

Quote:

---

Cusumano is one of 950 workers who lost their jobs April 20 when GM closed the Linden plant. Under its agreement with the United Auto Workers, GM will pay laid-off workers' full salaries until the current labor contract expires in September 2007.

---

Sounds like the United Auto Workers have better contract negotiators than GM.