Greg Shotwell is my kinda guy. He’s a GM employee, United Auto Workers member and the founder of the Soldiers of Solidarity pressure group. I don’t agree with half of what he says, but man does he know how to say it. “When the tantrums are over, President Bush will appoint a ‘Car Czar’ to strong arm the ranks into a marching band for martyrdom-layoffs, plant closings, bank-ruptured dealers,” Shotwell writes in an advance copy of his next polemic, attained by TTAC. “It’s uncanny how heavy handed politicians are with irony. A Russian title for the federal agent assigned to dictate demands to the auto industry? What next? Hammers and sickles for hood ornaments? But don’t worry, Wagoner, Nardelli, and Mullaly won’t be hawking their options at the low end. They’ll fleece the cons and field dress the union. Before you know it, they’ll be bitching about taxes and regulations and clearing their nostrils with Ben Franklins.” Shotwell is just warming up his rhetorical Howitzer. And the jobs’ bank is in the crosshairs..

Yes, yes, The Heritage Foundation. Right wing whack jobs. But TTAC is open to arguments from all ends of the political spectrum, from Prius-driving socialists to S65 AMG-driving free marketeers (I’m looking at you Shoes). As always, you’re free to make of this what you will. “The Detroit automakers explain in their SEC filings that their benefit expenses are for current workers, not former employees. This is because they follow generally accepted accounting principles in preparing these estimates. If the figures did include current retiree benefits, the average hourly amount would be much higher than they actually report. UAW employees earn far more than most Americans do.” So, now how much do they pay? “Chart 1 shows the average hourly compensation for UAW workers and the average compensation for all private sector workers. These figures are based upon calculations by the Detroit automakers themselves as published in SEC filings, their annual reports, and other materials. According to briefing materials prepared by General Motors, “The total of both cash compensation and benefits provided to GM hourly workers in 2006 amounted to approximately $73.26 per active hour worked.”

As we attempt to understand the UAW’s Job Bank program, and whether or not their reported suspension of that program is a meaningful concession, we’ve been looking for information on it. Unfortunately, as a somewhat outdated but highly informative report from Carlist explains, the details of the Job Bank are kept under wraps by the Union and automakers for “competitive reasons.” In fact, when asked why GM publicized its health benefit and pension obligations but not its Job Bank information, a GM spokesman said “that is public information that can be found in our financial statements, job banks isn’t.” In the absence of public information on the program, the original terms of the Job Bank agreement from 1987 (leaked to Carlist) are all we have to go on.

We’ve been harping on the UAW for not making concessions either at this week’s congressional testimony or subsequent press conferences. After all, how is congress supposed to take your endorsement of a $25b bailout seriously when you are part of the problem and yet refuse to give up a single iota? Well, by passing the buck (for now), Congress has apparently convinced Detroit that it has to offer something, and the union boys are starting to understand that they have to be part of the solution. At least for PR purposes. The UAW’s controversial job bank program has been widely floated as a possible concession, and apparently Gettelfinger wants folks to know that GM isn’t paying his union brothers $77/hr to do nothing. “It’s not gone yet but it’s almost gone,” Gettelfinger tells the Detroit News. “We’re on the verge of eliminating that provision.” So, why does the DetN lede their story with “reports that the United Auto Workers union is in talks to dismantle the controversial jobs bank program are premature, according to people familiar with the situation”?

This week’s round of congressional testimony has forced our elected officials take sides on the auto industry, a topic that typically doesn’t often factor too heavily into national level grandstanding politicking. Detroit News Scribe Bryce G. Hoffman figures that the divisive issue of aid to automakers is creating a house divided… along the old Mason-Dixon line. The split is based on another legislative battle that hasn’t visited the corridors of power as often in recent years: anti-union “at will” employment laws. These laws are popular in many southern states which have used the lack of labor organization to attract transplant auto factories which have bring hundreds of jobs– and an ambivalence to Detroit’s self-made hell– to their sunny shores. And like much of Detroit’s newspapers’ coverage, Hoffman is taking his lead from UAW boss Ron Gettelfinger who blasted Alabama’s congressional delegation at a recent press conference. “Alabama paid $175,000 per employee to create those jobs there,” he said. “It just seems odd to us that we can help the financial institutions in this country — that we can offer incentives to our competitors to come here and compete against us — but at the same time we’re willing to walk away from an industry that is the backbone of our economy.”

Holman W. Jenkins Jr. is not a happy camper. The Wall Street Journal columnist begins his broadside by taking on the Hail Mary-shaped plug-in hybrid gas – electric Chevrolet Volt. Jenkins reckons it’s what the Brits call a “non-starter.” “Even as GM teeters toward bankruptcy and wheedles for billions in public aid, its forthcoming plug-in hybrid continues to absorb a big chunk of the company’s product development budget. This is a car that, by GM’s own admission, won’t make money. It’s a car that can’t possibly provide a buyer with value commensurate with the resources and labor needed to build it. It’s a car that will be unsalable without multiple handouts from government.” While Jenkins’ anti-Volt tirade isn’t especially accurate (you could even call it inaccurate), at least his rhetoric is a moving target, as he changes targets.

Automotive News [sub] reports that United Auto Workers (UAW) chief Ron Gettelfinger is against the nevergonnahappen GM-Chrysler merger. Sort of. “I personally would not want to see anything that would result in a consolidation if that would mean the elimination of additional jobs,” Gettelfinger said. “But until we get into actual discussions, we can’t just speculate on what is going to happen. We have to know the situation, and then we can deal with it.” New CAW President Ken Lawenza is holding off on making any “if”-dependent statements on the matter until getting more details from GM and ChryCo. “We have already tried to contact the companies. We’re waiting for calls back,” Lewenza tells Reuters. Ken could be waiting for a while though, because the two firms probably haven’t even worked out the deal’s details yet. If there is a deal. Which there probably isn’t. Reaction on the other side of the pond is equally supportive…