good news for the future of the Big Three

No, not more of a bailout.
That would only be good news for the short-run.

Union concessions on a ridiculous contribution to labor costs: the so-called "Jobs Bank"-- the provision that allows laid-off workers to receive as much as 95% of their pay without working.

Here's the front-page story in the C-J...

Without the votes for more bailout money...

The Bush administration and auto-state Republicans and Democrats are pushing instead to take a $25 billion program to help the carmakers produce green vehicles and convert that into emergency loans.

Chief executives of the three automakers were due to appear before Congress today, armed with new willingness from the United Auto Workers to negotiate new concessions. The UAW said yesterday its leaders are willing to renegotiate expensive contract provisions, including all but eliminating paying laid-off workers as much as 95 percent of their wages....

UAW President Ron Gettelfinger said yesterday the union will suspend the "Jobs Bank," in which laid-off workers draw pay and unemployment benefits to make up much of their lost wages. He did not give specifics or a timetable. At the same time, the UAW will allow automakers to delay payments to a union-run trust fund crafted last year to allay health-care costs for retirees.

"We're going to sit down and work out the mechanics," Gettelfinger said at a news conference after meeting with local union officials.

UAW job guarantees date back 20 years, when downsizing was inconceivable at the Big Three. In the 1987 contract, workers accepted lower wage increases sought by automakers upon condition that unemployment benefits be supplemented for laid-off workers. But the notion of paying workers who aren't on the job was one of the points of criticism from members of Congress last month.

About 3,500 laid off-auto workers across the three companies are currently drawing the payments, according to the UAW.