and they wonder why they're going belly up.

Not an issue. Sales are down in that period, so more stock isn't needed. People would likely be taking some vacation time anyway, so the workforce would be depleted. The transport systems are overloaded, so their "just in time" manufacturing is taxed.

I've worked for several companies, in the past, that closed between Christmas and New Years.

i've never worked for a co. that shut down for the holidays (for 2-3 weeks) let alone pay + x weeks of vac. on top of that.

Yup. I dont believe the bailout on the auto industry will ever end.

I also believe that those jobs will be replaced by people working in the states for Toyota, Honda, etc at wages/benefits more inline with industry standards and proportional to their experience/education. As demand grows, so will the other automakers who are actually modern and progressive not thinking what it was like 50 years ago. "Back in my day sonny...."

n

Pick your jobs better then redflip

And in the meanwhile people default on mortgages, auto loans, etc. and the economy takes a major dump, possibly to Great Depression levels.

Have you looked at Toyota and Honda's sales figures the last couple months?

1M jobs (as proclaimed by the auto industry) vs a country with 300M+ people? Not the end of the world.

Have you seen that they arent asking for bailouts? ;)

A lot of our customers close down over the holiday, and if we don't have billable work, we're suppose to take the time off, you can take vac and get paid, or not and don't.

I don't know for sure how the big 3 or other companies work it out, but the company I worked for figured it in as part of your total compensation package. :shrug: I have rarely worked in an industry where there was jack shit to do during that period of time. As PC pointed out, a lot of people are on vaca anyway.