You're missing my point. United Airlines dumped their responsibility for their union contract benefits upon the general public. The airline management gets to keep their cash cow and the unions get to keep a portion of their benefits at our expense.
Northwest Airlines is now doing the same thing with a twist. They are actually trying to dump the union benefits entirely. If the unions refuse to allow this, then Northwest will dump the union contracts upon the general public.
Delphi is about to follow the airline lead in these matters. They will dump the union contracts upon the general public and will keep their cash cow. After Delphi goes, so will Ford, Chrysler and GM. Their simply isn't enough money to make good on the commitments.
Our government is complicit in this fraud and acts to sustain this corrupt and broken system by allowing these organizations to abandon their obligations and yet maintain their companies.
What ought to happen is that the companies should be liquidated and the proceeds split up amongst the parties with valid claims proportionately.
In this way, the management loses their cash cows, investors lose their investment and the unions lose their excessive benefit packages. This is the only way to stop these practices.
Both management and unions wanted (and took) as much money as they could from their companies. Unions always went after one company in a particular industry at a time. Give us what we want or we'll shut you down and the other companies will eat your lunch, was the threat. Once one company fell in line, they would move to next and say, see what they gave us, you do the same or we'll shut you down.
With the assistance of our government, these same organizations, management and unions alike, are now attempting to take as much money as they can from the rest of us.
-- msosborn at msosborn dot com