Republican blow at unions

Los Angeles Times reported The congressional push to help U.S. automakers was generally cast in terms of protecting the reeling national economy from another body blow -- the collapse of one or more of Detroit's Big Three.

Chapter 11 will have the unions complaining, but it will not destroy the company, and the workers will still have jobs, just not cushy jobs.

But in killing the stopgap rescue plan worked out by President Bush and congressional Democrats, conservative Republicans -- many from right-to-work states across the South -- struck at an old enemy: organized labor. "If the [United Auto Workers], which is perceived as one of the strongest unions in the country, can be put under control,

That is never going to happen.

that may send a message across the whole country," said Michigan State University professor Richard Block, a labor relations expert.

Hopefully it will send a message that they should make sure the workers have reasonable working conditions, but they should not kill the company by making demands that bankrupt the company.