Perhaps having the UAM cash in half of its claim for retiree’s pension and health care benefits for majority ownership of Chrysler will be good thing. It may make them understand what is really necessary to make a profit.

401k’s have made workers more in tune with the pitfalls of equity ownership but it has never been as focused as such a stake in a single entity by a single worker’s organization.

I recall a conversation many years ago when a contractor friend of mine was bidding a project for a union hall in a nearby town. After submitting the winning bid, he reminded the customer that he was not a union contractor.

“Oh we know that,” he was told “if you were we couldn’t afford it.”

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