GM and Toyota form NUMMI

The United Auto Workers contracts with the Big 3 Automakers included "Job Bank" provisions. Laid off workers were paid up to 90% of their base salary for NOT WORKING! This provision cost GM over $400 Million in 2006 alone.
2007 brought some much needed changes to the Big 3 labor contracts, saving an estimated $1,000 per car.

Take the NUMMI plant in Fremont, California as an example.

As a General Motors plant, the UAW closed the plant four times with strikes and sick-outs between 1963 and 1982. In the final year, reportedly up to 20% of workers were absent without excuse. The plant employed 4,000 workers and it took an average of 34 hours to build a car.

After NUMMI reopened as a joint venture between GM and Toyota, absenteeism dropped to just 2%, the factory employed just 2,200 workers, and build time dropped to just 20 hours.