When a large organization fails, it's almost always the fault of the leadership.
It strikes me as a real chickensh*t move how our captains of industry rush to claim credit and bonuses when things go right, but blame the workers when the executives can't live up to the guidance they gave to Wall Street.
Toyota isn't unionized, doesn't have any trouble attracting workers, and has a great reputation for quality. There was a time when unions were needed to improve working conditions, but that time has passed.
IMHO, it was a mistake to bail them out. I see why we did it, but it didn't fix the root problems.
More important, the executives knew about the pension liabilities when they accepted the job. It's been part of their planning and their guidance all along. Blaming the workers when those plans failed is cowardly.
Edit:
German automakers are also highly unionized. It doesn't seem to prevent them from making quality cars either. It really seems to me that executives blaming the workers is a US and UK thing. In many business cultures, it just makes the executive seem incompetent.
It can’t be said they didn’t have that $10 billion. They had it.