[Schonyenko2]

Rob, one of the reasons a person like me went to work in a plant like this at 19 is that you were guaranteed these benifits through contract negotiations, and settlements. Alot of us would have gone else where and worked at construction jobs, or more appealing work, but these were jobs with specific negotiated guarantees that paid good wages to support a family on one income. A mom got to raise the kids, not a child care provider. And with things like 30 and out, you had a chance to reach retirement at a reasonable age, with a few years left to enjoy life. Companies don't just give you benifits. Much of the reason goes back to Henry Ford who paid good wages, and benifits to keep a well trained, and consistent work force.
If you work for a company like GM, and are guaranteed benifits at retiremant time through duly negotiated contractual agreements, how would you feel at say 68 years old, they half your retirement check, and cut, or drop your health care? Especially, if like at GM, they didn't adequetly fund their retirement pension fund. At 68 are you going to go back into the work force? This becomes a social issue then as the tax payer is probably going to have to pick up some of the cost.
As to fairness and cooperation between union, and companies, I remember in one of the last contracts we had, the company was making money hand over fist, but wanted us to take concesions. They said that due to global competition that they couldn't afford to negotiate any increases in anything. So the union negotiators went back and said,if we take concessions, will you lower the price of the product to give us a leg up on the competition, keep employment stable and increase market share? They basicly said to piss off, and they'd handle corporate pricing strategy.