James O'Keeffe Busted Again, This Time For Phony Anti-Union Video
ProudProgressive
2012/07/21 14:31:42
Andrew Breitbart may be dead, but his legacy of lies, distortions and slanders lives on in the guise of serial failure James O'Keeffe. In the ongoing effort by the Right Wing to demonize the working people of this country and to pit worker against worker in an effort to, as Scott Walker said "divide and conquer", O'Keeffe has manufactured yet another phony video to try to "prove" the corruption of unions. As always, the only corruption O'Keeffe has proved is his own.
Article excerpt follows:
James O'Keefe Fails To Find A Scandal, Union And Public Works Edition
CHELSEA RUDMAN
July 18, 2012
In the latest of his heavily edited, deceptive videos, discredited conservative activist James O'Keefe claims that he found "union bosses" who "loved the idea" of a company that does nothing but dig holes in the ground and fill them again -- and that those union men said "public officials" would fund such projects. The unedited video, of course, shows nothing of the sort.
The edited video shows workers from the fictional company Earth Supply and Renewal (ESR) meeting with New York union leaders John Hutchings and Anthony Tocci and former NY state assemblyman Ronald Tocci (Anthony's brother). The faux-ESR employees explain that workers at their company dig ditches and then "put [the dirt] right back in the ground," then ask if the union leaders can help them get public funds for their hole-digging, hole-filling operation.
In a series of fast cuts, the union leaders are shown advising the supposed ESR employees to "just call it a jobs program for workers," explaining how they lobby officials, and saying that they are "good with [Sens. Kirsten] Gillibrand and [Charles] Schumer." The video repeatedly shows Hutchings saying, "It's awful hard for anybody to vote against a jobs bill right now" -- the implication being, apparently, that anyone will vote to fund any kind of jobs, even useless ones like repeatedly digging and filling holes.
The Project Veritas press release accompanying the video claims it shows that "UNION BOSSES LOVED THE IDEA!" of funding "a fake company that literally does nothing but dig holes and then put the dirt back," and during the video, O'Keefe claims that "union bosses expressed the willingness of public officials and lawmakers to secure funding for projects just like ours."
But the raw footage of the video shows no such thing. In the raw footage, the union leaders are highly skeptical of Earth Supply and Renewal, and they never promise to help "secure funding" for it.
In the raw footage, the union leaders repeatedly ask the "ESR employees" about the purpose of their projects. When they can't give any, Hutchings and the Tocci brothers gently propose they take on more useful work. Hutchings asks if they "dig prior to construction projects" for "historical artifacts." Ron Tocci asks if they analyze or remediate soil, then later says, "I'm just trying to get a hook on how you sell your product." When one actor says, "There are people who have seen merit in what we're doing, especially from the green, more green circles," an incredulous Tocci replies, "Well, why would they see that as -- besides the jobs that you would create, what are you doing for the environment?"
Watch their awkward exchange in the video footage O'Keefe edited out:
Throughout the interview, the union men continue to suggest real work ESR could do: remediate brownfields, identify archaeological sites, or move large amounts of dirt for property owners. Tocci repeatedly suggests the company look into alternate projects, saying at one point, "You've got to find a purpose."
The raw footage also debunks O'Keefe's claim that the video shows "the willingness of public officials and lawmakers to secure funding for projects just like [ESR's]." Actually, the men question aloud how the company has ever managed to receive public funds before. About halfway through the video, Anthony Tocci says: "When you do these grants, the fellows you have writing them up, you know, in the past -- like Ronnie said, what do they put in there, outside of this? They must fluff it up, so to speak."
As the faux-ESR workers press the union men for information on getting public funding, they emphasize that grant projects need to have a purpose; Ron Tocci says that federal support wouldn't be guaranteed, but would "be based on how good the grant is."
So, the raw footage of O'Keefe's supposed shock video shows nothing more than three men kindly trying to explain to two youngsters that they can't run a business just by digging holes and filling them with dirt, and that the government won't pay them to do that either. The only thing these men are guilty of, if anything, is being too polite to the O'Keefe actors.
Indeed, in an article published today on Capitol Confidential, Ron Tocci told reporters he and his brother "tried to be courteous" even though they knew that the whole thing "must be a scam":
Ron Tocci said the three labor officials (he is a dues-paying member of the union) had given the "kids" an audience because they had called and been referred from a New Jersey contact. He said the union officials determined after the meeting that they were scammers or too unsophisticated to ever get a grant. "My brother and I said this must be a scam. We told them we want them to see their principle," Tocci said. "It's all BS." He said he told them they needed to evolve and can't be just digging holes and suggested doing dirt cleaning or remediation of brown fields.
"We figured they were shysters," said Tocci, an assemblyman for 20 years until becoming commissioner of Veteran Affairs from 2005 to 2007. "We tried to be courteous. They were young kids; first thing that comes to mind is that its young idealists, like Occupy Wall Street. We sized it up even half-way through the meeting when they couldn't explain what they did with the dirt." He did not know about being featured in O'Keefe's project until being contacted by a reporter Wednesday morning. The union leaders, he said, never took the pitch too seriously because it didn't add up.
This isn't the first time O'Keefe has cried wolf. In the past, he's used his doctored videos to misleadingly portray NPR executives as Tea Party-haters, to falsely claim ACORN was abetting national child prostitution rings, and to inaccurately portray former USDA official Shirley Sherrod as racist. One of O'Keefe's videos even suggested a voter in North Carolina who was very much alive was "dead."
His "Earth Supply and Renewal" video is just like the rest of his work: a flimsy string of out-of-context clips that crumbles under the slightest scrutiny.
Article excerpt follows:
James O'Keefe Fails To Find A Scandal, Union And Public Works Edition
CHELSEA RUDMAN
July 18, 2012
In the latest of his heavily edited, deceptive videos, discredited conservative activist James O'Keefe claims that he found "union bosses" who "loved the idea" of a company that does nothing but dig holes in the ground and fill them again -- and that those union men said "public officials" would fund such projects. The unedited video, of course, shows nothing of the sort.
The edited video shows workers from the fictional company Earth Supply and Renewal (ESR) meeting with New York union leaders John Hutchings and Anthony Tocci and former NY state assemblyman Ronald Tocci (Anthony's brother). The faux-ESR employees explain that workers at their company dig ditches and then "put [the dirt] right back in the ground," then ask if the union leaders can help them get public funds for their hole-digging, hole-filling operation.
In a series of fast cuts, the union leaders are shown advising the supposed ESR employees to "just call it a jobs program for workers," explaining how they lobby officials, and saying that they are "good with [Sens. Kirsten] Gillibrand and [Charles] Schumer." The video repeatedly shows Hutchings saying, "It's awful hard for anybody to vote against a jobs bill right now" -- the implication being, apparently, that anyone will vote to fund any kind of jobs, even useless ones like repeatedly digging and filling holes.
The Project Veritas press release accompanying the video claims it shows that "UNION BOSSES LOVED THE IDEA!" of funding "a fake company that literally does nothing but dig holes and then put the dirt back," and during the video, O'Keefe claims that "union bosses expressed the willingness of public officials and lawmakers to secure funding for projects just like ours."
But the raw footage of the video shows no such thing. In the raw footage, the union leaders are highly skeptical of Earth Supply and Renewal, and they never promise to help "secure funding" for it.
In the raw footage, the union leaders repeatedly ask the "ESR employees" about the purpose of their projects. When they can't give any, Hutchings and the Tocci brothers gently propose they take on more useful work. Hutchings asks if they "dig prior to construction projects" for "historical artifacts." Ron Tocci asks if they analyze or remediate soil, then later says, "I'm just trying to get a hook on how you sell your product." When one actor says, "There are people who have seen merit in what we're doing, especially from the green, more green circles," an incredulous Tocci replies, "Well, why would they see that as -- besides the jobs that you would create, what are you doing for the environment?"
Watch their awkward exchange in the video footage O'Keefe edited out:
Throughout the interview, the union men continue to suggest real work ESR could do: remediate brownfields, identify archaeological sites, or move large amounts of dirt for property owners. Tocci repeatedly suggests the company look into alternate projects, saying at one point, "You've got to find a purpose."
The raw footage also debunks O'Keefe's claim that the video shows "the willingness of public officials and lawmakers to secure funding for projects just like [ESR's]." Actually, the men question aloud how the company has ever managed to receive public funds before. About halfway through the video, Anthony Tocci says: "When you do these grants, the fellows you have writing them up, you know, in the past -- like Ronnie said, what do they put in there, outside of this? They must fluff it up, so to speak."
As the faux-ESR workers press the union men for information on getting public funding, they emphasize that grant projects need to have a purpose; Ron Tocci says that federal support wouldn't be guaranteed, but would "be based on how good the grant is."
So, the raw footage of O'Keefe's supposed shock video shows nothing more than three men kindly trying to explain to two youngsters that they can't run a business just by digging holes and filling them with dirt, and that the government won't pay them to do that either. The only thing these men are guilty of, if anything, is being too polite to the O'Keefe actors.
Indeed, in an article published today on Capitol Confidential, Ron Tocci told reporters he and his brother "tried to be courteous" even though they knew that the whole thing "must be a scam":
Ron Tocci said the three labor officials (he is a dues-paying member of the union) had given the "kids" an audience because they had called and been referred from a New Jersey contact. He said the union officials determined after the meeting that they were scammers or too unsophisticated to ever get a grant. "My brother and I said this must be a scam. We told them we want them to see their principle," Tocci said. "It's all BS." He said he told them they needed to evolve and can't be just digging holes and suggested doing dirt cleaning or remediation of brown fields.
"We figured they were shysters," said Tocci, an assemblyman for 20 years until becoming commissioner of Veteran Affairs from 2005 to 2007. "We tried to be courteous. They were young kids; first thing that comes to mind is that its young idealists, like Occupy Wall Street. We sized it up even half-way through the meeting when they couldn't explain what they did with the dirt." He did not know about being featured in O'Keefe's project until being contacted by a reporter Wednesday morning. The union leaders, he said, never took the pitch too seriously because it didn't add up.
This isn't the first time O'Keefe has cried wolf. In the past, he's used his doctored videos to misleadingly portray NPR executives as Tea Party-haters, to falsely claim ACORN was abetting national child prostitution rings, and to inaccurately portray former USDA official Shirley Sherrod as racist. One of O'Keefe's videos even suggested a voter in North Carolina who was very much alive was "dead."
His "Earth Supply and Renewal" video is just like the rest of his work: a flimsy string of out-of-context clips that crumbles under the slightest scrutiny.
Read More: http://mediamatters.org/mobile/blog/2012/07/18/jam...
They worked up one side of the street, then down the other, then moved on to the next street, working furiously all day without rest, one guy digging a hole, the other guy filling it in again.
An onlooker was amazed at their hard work, but couldn't understand what they were doing. So he asked the hole digger, "I'm impressed by the effort you two are putting into your work, but I don't get it why do you dig a hole, only to have your partner follow behind and fill it up again?"
The hole digger wiped his brow and sighed, "Well, I suppose it probably looks odd because we're normally a three-man team. But today the guy who plants the trees called in sick."
The U.S Govt. doesn't manufacture or build a single thing without private enterprise, funding and labor.
Speaking of Enterprise.... NASA didn't build that either.
The Federal Govt. serves as a middle-man bureaucracy to inflate the cost of a project 3-fold before a single shovel hits the ground and line the pockets of past & future campaign donors.
Paid for by the US Government.
At least remove the footnote marks, Geek.
Hoover was constructed by Six Companies Inc. They were comprised of:
1.Henry J. Kaiser Co. of Oakland, California and Bechtel Corporation of San Francisco (Bechtel-Kaiser) - 30%
2.MacDonald and Kahn of Los Angeles, California - 20%
3.Utah Construction Company of Ogden, Utah - 20%
4.Morrison-Knudsen of Boise, Idaho - 10%,
5.Pacific Bridge Company of Portland, Oregon - 10%
6.J.F. Shea of Portland, Oregon - 10%
THE GOVERNMENT, because you can't do that by your self.
You'll be living under a bridge listening to limbaugh and won't be smart enough to see you did it to your self.
No wodner they are bankrupt . Getting paid huge salaries not to a damn
thing.
Typical Lazy Welfare Democrat union thugs.
http://www.detnews.com/2005/a...
Jobs bank programs -- 12,000 paid not to work
Big 3 and suppliers pay billions to keep downsized UAW members on payroll in
decades-long deal.
WAYNE -- Ken Pool is making good money. On weekdays, he shows up at 7 a.m.
at Ford Motor Co.'s Michigan Truck Plant in Wayne, signs in, and then starts
working -- on a crossword puzzle. Pool hates the monotony, but the pay is
good: more than $31 an hour, plus benefits.
"We just go in and play crossword puzzles, watch videos that someone brings
in or read the newspaper," he says. "Otherwise, I've just sat."
Pool is one of more than 12,000 American autoworkers who, instead of
installing windshields or bending sheet metal, spend their days counting the
hours in a jobs bank set up by Detroit automakers and Delphi Corp. as part
of an extraordinary job security agreement with the United Auto Workers
union.
The jobs bank programs were the price the industry paid in...
No wodner they are bankrupt . Getting paid huge salaries not to a damn
thing.
Typical Lazy Welfare Democrat union thugs.
http://www.detnews.com/2005/a...
Jobs bank programs -- 12,000 paid not to work
Big 3 and suppliers pay billions to keep downsized UAW members on payroll in
decades-long deal.
WAYNE -- Ken Pool is making good money. On weekdays, he shows up at 7 a.m.
at Ford Motor Co.'s Michigan Truck Plant in Wayne, signs in, and then starts
working -- on a crossword puzzle. Pool hates the monotony, but the pay is
good: more than $31 an hour, plus benefits.
"We just go in and play crossword puzzles, watch videos that someone brings
in or read the newspaper," he says. "Otherwise, I've just sat."
Pool is one of more than 12,000 American autoworkers who, instead of
installing windshields or bending sheet metal, spend their days counting the
hours in a jobs bank set up by Detroit automakers and Delphi Corp. as part
of an extraordinary job security agreement with the United Auto Workers
union.
The jobs bank programs were the price the industry paid in the 1980s to win
UAW support for controversial efforts to boost productivity through
increased automation and more flexible manufacturing.
As part of its restructuring under bankruptcy, Delphi is actively pressing
the union to give up the program.
With Wall Street wondering how automakers can afford to pay thousands of
workers to do nothing as their market share withers, the union is likely to
hear a similar message from the Big Three when their contracts with the UAW
expire in 2007 -- if not sooner.
"It's an albatross around their necks," said Steven Szakaly, an economist
with the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor. "It's a huge number of
workers doing nothing. That has a very large effect on their future earnings
outlook."
General Motors Corp. has roughly 5,000 workers in its jobs bank. Delphi has
about 4,000 in its version of the same program. Some 2,100 workers are in
DaimlerChrysler AG's Chrysler Group's job security program. Ford had 1,275
in its jobs bank as of Sept. 25. The pending closure of Ford's assembly
plant in Loraine, Ohio, could add significantly to that total. Those numbers
could swell in coming years as GM and Ford prepare to close more plants.
Detroit automakers declined to discuss the programs in detail or say exactly
how much they are spending, but the four-year labor contracts they signed
with the UAW in 2003 established contribution caps that give a good idea of
the size of the expense.
According to those documents, GM agreed to contribute up to $2.1 billion
over four years. DaimlerChrysler set aside $451 million for its program,
along with another $50 million for salaried employees covered under the
contract. Ford, which also maintained responsibility for Visteon Corp.'s UAW
employees, agreed to contribute $944 million.
Delphi pledged to contribute $630 million. In August, however, Delphi
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Robert S. "Steve" Miller said the
company spent more than $100 million on its jobs bank program in the second
quarter alone.
"Can we keep losing $400 million a year paying for workers in the jobs bank
and $400 million a year on operations? No, we cannot deal with that
indefinitely," Miller said in a recent interview with The Detroit News. "We
can't wait until 2007."
Guaranteed employment
The jobs bank was established during 1984 labor contract talks between the
UAW and the Big Three. The union, still reeling from the loss of 500,000
jobs during the recession of the late 1970s and early 1980s, was determined
to protect those who were left. Detroit automakers were eager to win union
support to boost productivity through increased automation and more
production flexibility.
The result was a plan to guarantee pay and benefits for union members whose
jobs fell victim to technological progress or plant restructurings. In most
cases, workers end up in the jobs bank only after they have exhausted their
government unemployment benefits, which are also supplemented by the
companies through a related program. In some cases, workers go directly into
the program and the benefits can last until they are eligible to retire or
return to the factory floor.
By making it so expensive to keep paying idled workers, the UAW thought
Detroit automakers would avoid layoffs. By discouraging layoffs, the union
thought it could prevent outsourcing.
That strategy has worked but at the expense of the domestic auto industry's
long-term viability.
American automakers have produced cars and trucks even when there is little
market demand for them, forcing manufacturers to offer big rebates and
discounts.
"Sometimes they just push product on us," said Bill Holden Jr., general
manager of Holden Dodge Inc. in Dover, Del., who said this does not go over
well with the dealers. "But they've got these contracts with the union."
In Detroit's battle against Asian and European competitors that are
unencumbered by such labor costs, the job banks have become a major
competitive disadvantage.
Breaking the banks
Analysts say the jobs bank could be a bigger issue than health care in the
2007 contract negotiations, particularly at Ford. It has a younger work
force than GM, meaning any workers Ford sends to the bench are likely to
stay there for a while.
"Ford is under pressure from investors to cut costs," said Roland Zullo, a
research scientist at the University of Michigan's Institute of Labor and
Industrial Relations. "At the same time, the unions are going to be under
pressure to protect jobs."
Given that, he expects a compromise that allows for the jobs bank to
continue but not on the scale of the current programs. "There's going to be
a lot of give and take," he said.
But does the jobs bank make any sense in a climate of shrinking profits and
declining market share?
"Labor wants the (jobs bank) because they want protection for their
members," Zullo said. But he added that the jobs bank was also designed to
help the companies by ensuring that skilled workers did not take their
talents elsewhere.
"Companies invest in training," he said. "It protects that investment."
The investment only makes sense when viewed from a long-term perspective, a
vantage point Wall Street is not known to favor.
"If they're going after the job banks, that would signal to me that the
folks at the top have lost faith in their ability to recoup market share,"
Zullo said. "That would suggest to me that they really don't see a
turnaround."
Analysts and labor experts believe some sort of compromise is inevitable as
pressure builds on Detroit automakers to lower operating costs.
"The union probably realizes the money to pay for these programs probably
doesn't exist," Szakaly said. "There's going to have to be some give on the
jobs bank."
While the job banks may exemplify the sort of excesses that give unions a
bad name, experts say it is wrong to cast all the blame in the direction of
Solidarity House. He said the leaders of GM, Ford and Chrysler also bear
some responsibility for the current problems.
"If these guys built cars people wanted, this wouldn't even be an issue,"
Szakaly said.
'Put out to pasture'
That view was echoed by Dan Cisco, another member of the jobs bank at
Michigan Truck, as he drained a cup of coffee with Pool and other idled
workers at Rex's restaurant in Wayne last week.
Ten members of UAW Local 900 are currently assigned to the jobs bank at
Michigan Truck. They are all gun-welder repairmen -- or "gunnies." It is a
classification each says they earned through decades of hard work.
And none of them is ready to give it up.
While some might envy their life of leisure, workers like Cisco, 56, feel
humiliated by the program.
"I felt like I was useless -- like I was put out to pasture," he said. "It's
just like how they treated the veterans. During the war, we were heroes.
When we came back ... "
Cisco adjusts his cap, emblazoned with the familiar silhouette of a captive
American POW, and sighs.
Michigan Truck, which builds the Ford Expedition and Lincoln Navigator
full-size SUVs, used to be one of Ford's most profitable plants. Today, the
nation is turning away from the big trucks and sport utility vehicles it
builds.
Cisco, Pool and eight other gunnies from Michigan Truck have been in the
jobs bank program since their positions were eliminated in July. They all
have more than 36 years with Ford and are among the highest-paid workers in
the plant. They say the company is asking them to accept one of the $35,000
retirement packages it is offering to trim its blue-collar headcount.
Most say they have no interest in retiring -- or spending the rest of their
careers doing crossword puzzles.
"We want training," Dale Hall said.
Classes are available, the workers said. They have been invited to take
courses on bicycle repair, home wiring and poker. Silk-flower arranging is
also available.
"They might as well just give us a basket-weaving class, set us in the
corner and let us feed the pigeons," Cisco said.
Community service
Not everyone in the jobs bank is spending their time marking it.
Dan Costilla, a member of UAW Local 602 in Lansing, was a body shop worker
at GM's Lansing car assembly plant until it was closed in May. Now, instead
of grinding joints, he rides herd over 16 of his former plantmates, making
sure they keep their appointments at the local thrift store or Head Start
program.
"I'm making sure that everything's going smooth," he said.
In the five months since Costilla and his co-workers have been unemployed,
they have been busy mowing lawns for the handicapped, patching roofs for
senior citizens and chaperoning youngsters on field trips to the zoo. It is
all part of a community service effort organized by the union, with the
support of the company.
"They realized you could only sit so long at the job bank office," Costilla
said. "Your bones, they get sore after a while sitting down."
Bob Bowen, former president of UAW Local 849 in Ypsilanti, said the original
intent of the jobs bank program was that idled workers would be gainfully
employed on community projects or learning new skills -- real ones that they
could actually use on the assembly line.
"The idea was not to have people loafing," Bowen said. "But that was a
concern."
The problem, he said, lies in the way the jobs bank is administered.
Instead of setting up a central authority to manage them, responsibility was
largely left to union locals across the country. Some organized community
projects and job training. Others passed out decks of cards and hooked up
VCRs.
Ken Pool said he can only take so many more World War II documentaries and
crossword puzzles.
He and the other members of Michigan Truck's jobs bank planned to meet with
a lawyer. They have already filed numerous grievances, accusing the company
of age discrimination, but have heard nothing from the union or the company.
Now they are going to see if the courts can help.
As for Costilla and his colleagues, they are getting ready to go back to
work at GM's new Delta Township plant. Costilla acknowledges that many of
the union members are not looking forward to going back to work at the
factory.
"The majority of us would rather stay here doing what we're doing," he said.
"You're not on the line, chasing a car."
UAW to End GM Jobs Bank on Feb. 2, Following Chrysler (Update5)
By Mike Ramsey and Jeff Green - January 28, 2009 16:27 EST
Jan. 28 (Bloomberg) -- The United Auto Workers union will end its so-called jobs bank for General Motors Corp. employees on Feb. 2, one of the conditions set by the government when it agreed to lend the biggest U.S. automaker $13.4 billion.
GM has 1,600 workers in the program, which pays UAW members even when they have no work to do, company spokesman Tony Sapienza said today in an interview. Those leaving the jobs bank will get state unemployment benefits and some GM pay, he said.
The union’s move puts Detroit-based GM a step closer to meeting a Feb. 17 deadline to show progress on a survival plan so it can keep the federal loans. The automaker still is negotiating pay and benefit reductions with the UAW as part of the government rescue plan.
“It is a big savings if there are a lot of people in the jobs bank,” said Sean McAlinden, labor economist at the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor, Michigan. “If the union can get away with it, they won’t cut any wages or benefits.”
Last week, the UAW set Jan. 26 as the date to halt the jobs bank at Chrysler ...
UAW to End GM Jobs Bank on Feb. 2, Following Chrysler (Update5)
By Mike Ramsey and Jeff Green - January 28, 2009 16:27 EST
Jan. 28 (Bloomberg) -- The United Auto Workers union will end its so-called jobs bank for General Motors Corp. employees on Feb. 2, one of the conditions set by the government when it agreed to lend the biggest U.S. automaker $13.4 billion.
GM has 1,600 workers in the program, which pays UAW members even when they have no work to do, company spokesman Tony Sapienza said today in an interview. Those leaving the jobs bank will get state unemployment benefits and some GM pay, he said.
The union’s move puts Detroit-based GM a step closer to meeting a Feb. 17 deadline to show progress on a survival plan so it can keep the federal loans. The automaker still is negotiating pay and benefit reductions with the UAW as part of the government rescue plan.
“It is a big savings if there are a lot of people in the jobs bank,” said Sean McAlinden, labor economist at the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor, Michigan. “If the union can get away with it, they won’t cut any wages or benefits.”
Last week, the UAW set Jan. 26 as the date to halt the jobs bank at Chrysler LLC, which got $4 billion in aid. Besides finding labor savings, GM and Chrysler also must trim debt and take steps such as shutting factories and dropping models.
Notifying Locals
Union leaders began alerting UAW local presidents about the change today. A telephone message left for comment with Roger Kerson, a spokesman for the Detroit-based UAW, wasn’t returned.
“We really appreciate our union partners’ willingness to work with us as we restructure our business for long-term viability and work on terms of the bridge loans,” Sapienza said.
Ford Motor Co. hasn’t terminated its version of the jobs bank, said spokeswoman Marcey Evans, who declined to comment further. Dearborn, Michigan-based Ford is alone among the U.S. automakers in saying it will forgo federal aid, which GM and Chrysler had said they needed to have to keep them from running out of operating cash as soon as this month.
GM rose 7 cents, or 2.1 percent, to $3.42 at 4:15 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading, while Ford gained 6 cents, or 3 percent, to $2.03. Cerberus Capital Management LP owns 80.1 percent of Auburn Hills, Michigan-based Chrysler.
The UAW agreed on Dec. 3 to suspend the jobs bank without officially disbanding the program, which was attacked by several U.S. senators as an unacceptable benefit when GM, Ford and Chrysler pressed Congress for emergency industry aid last month.
Letter From UAW
GM and Chrysler’s loan agreement with the Treasury Department includes a provision that “eliminates the payment of any compensation or benefits to employees that have been laid off, i.e. jobs bank,” according to a UAW letter sent to Chrysler union leaders last week.
When GM union workers are laid off from factory jobs, they receive state unemployment and GM supplemental pay equal to about 72 percent of their normal compensation, Sapienza said. As those benefits expire, usually after about 48 weeks, workers would then qualify for the jobs bank, he said.
Until last month, employees in the program were paid 100 percent of their salary to report to a company location even if there was no work to do, Sapienza said. As of late December, GM workers who qualified for the jobs bank were told to stay home, and received 85 percent of their pay instead, he said.
The union is unlikely to budge on additional concessions, economist McAlinden said in an interview.
‘Corporate-Jet Issue’
“The jobs bank was the UAW’s corporate-jet issue,” he said, recalling how congressional critics attacked automaker chiefs’ use of private planes to fly to Washington in November. “They’ll take that away, and I really don’t expect anything else.”
GM and Chrysler also are studying ways to reduce or delay cash payments to a health-care trust fund for union retirees. McAlinden said he expects the UAW to agree to defer the payments rather than taking equity in the companies, as has been proposed by Chrysler.
GM said separately today it was extending the delay in construction of a four-cylinder engine plant in Flint, Michigan, after saying last month that work was being suspended pending a review in the first quarter.
The plant is scheduled to open in 2010 to build 1.4-liter engines for the Chevrolet Cruze small car and the Volt electric auto. The factory still should be done in time to meet the planned start of production for the vehicles late that year, a spokeswoman, Sharon Basel, said in an interview. She wouldn’t give specifics about the latest delay.