Unions can kill an Industry

Check out this stunning report from Detroit:

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.

Unbelievable. These guys are pulling in over $60,000 a year (plus benefits!) for doing nothing.When a gangster sets up a bank of no-work jobs, it's a crime. When a union does it, it's a industry "concession."

How can any business be expected to survive, let alone prosper, with expenses like this on the books?

Hat Tip: Betsy.