The car industry almost single handedly killed universal healthcare in the mid 20th century. They saw that sooner or later everyone would demand it, so they came up with a scheme where health insurance was paid for by the company that the workers worked at.
Which of course
They fought airbags and seat belts, higher fuel efficiency and safety standards, the classification as SUV's as passenger vehicles instead of commercial trucks.
GM was largely responsible for killing mass transit in the early 20th century. They purchased privately run and profitable intracity train lines only so that they could close them. And they were powerful, so we let them.
I am sorry for the workers who are hurt by this, but this is more of a suicide then a bankruptcy. Here's to hoping for a brand new, 21st century smart company when the dust settles. Think bigger GM! Think long term. I am not holding my breath.
I'm not saying the union didn't go too far sometimes, but demographic shifts took the whole situation and made it impossible.
You can't have a work force smaller then the number of retirees you're supporting and still function.
The Union was to strong and demanded to much money wise and then the upper tier people wanted to much also. Hey if you can out sell Japanese cars then maybe that is ok, but when they make better quality cars and for less money then you close your doors.
I feel like if the domestic auto industry went away, so would our national headache.
They are the evil little villains who killed the electric car and public transportation.