Unionized workers at Delphi, the auto parts supplier and former unit of General Motors, could vote this week to throw out the jobs bank, a longtime program that lets them continue receiving most of their pay after being laid off. If so, the jobs bank, which critics call the epitome of the American auto industry's inefficient labor practices, could be in its last months at the three Detroit automakers. Elimination of the jobs bank is one provision of a tentative agreement signed last week by the United Automobile Workers union, Delphi and General Motors after nearly two years of divisive negotiations. In place of the jobs bank, the agreement would provide $1,500 in severance pay for every month of service.
See "Delphi workers may give up layoff pay benefit", Nick Bunkley, International Herald Tribune, June 25, 2007