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I don’t harbor any resentment towards autoworkers for making what
they do per se - I do resent the means they used to obtain
that compensation.

Being from a blue-collar union family in the oil patch, I'm ambivalent
about the UAW.

But as for the GM management...I about had a heart attack when
I read that it was GM MANAGEMENT that came up with the "jobs bank"
concept (no work, no firing, just about regular pay for sitting
in a room reading magazines or going out to work for charitable
organizations...maybe the DNC?).
Some genius in GM management came up with the concept as an
enticement to get the UAW memebership to vote for signing a new
contract.
As I read that tidbit of American Business History in The Wall
Street Journal maybe two years ago... I thought I was having a
freakin' stroke.

If there is no bailout, it will be because enough people know
the history of the UAW...AND the management of GM/Chrysler/maybe Ford...
and will say "No bailout! A CURSE ON ALL OF YOUR HOUSES!!!

And call their Senators/Congress-Critters and say...
"Blow 'em up NOW...and start over again with a blank piece of paper!"

“And call their Senators/Congress-Critters and say...
“Blow ‘em up NOW...and start over again with a blank piece of paper!”

We already did that with the previous bailout and look at how well the congresscritters listened. Heck, the voters just confirmed that they don’t care if their reps listened to them.

Being from a blue-collar union family in the oil patch, I'm ambivalent about the UAW

I'm probably a minority, but my interest is in that I like GM cars and trucks.

Really - I always have, and have owned a string of them that I have always had great service from. I like the styling (generally) and the engineering. I think they put out a pretty good product, all things considered. Most of the Japanese stuff holds as much interest to me as buying a new washing machine. Some of the German stuff has tempted me in the past, but its usually about as affordable as GM.

I'd really like GM to keep on building some of the great machines they have in the past, and be able to do it profitably and sell them affordably.

But right now, and for the forseeable future, I buy my GM cars used and let someone else pay for the UAW surcharge.

What you don’t know is the story behind the Jobs Bank.

GM wanted to apply automation and robotics to car assembly. The UAW refused to let them and threatened to strike if ONE robot was installed in any plant anywhere, because they feared automation would replace their members (and it should have). The Jobs Bank was invented by GM execs so that the UAW would agree to some limited automation in the plants.

If it weren’t for the Jobs Bank, GM cars would be even worse built than they are today; they’d still be back in the “half-ass hand welded” era. But if it weren’t for the UAW, there wouldn’t need to be a Jobs Bank.