...As part of the GM bailout's complex arrangements, a UAW-owned trust was given a 17.5 percent ownership stake the car company (now roughly 10% as stock has been sold) in exchange for various concessions including the union taking responsibility for health care costs of retirees. The president today argued that with reduced hours and pay, some worker rights relinquished, and roughly 700,000 auto worker retirees seeing a reduction in health care benefits, workers indeed gave things up in the bailout.
The visit was an "official" presidential event, not campaign-related, but the odd dynamic when the president took the stage to chants of "Four More Years!" after which a labor official told the crowd, "This is not a political event."
That seemed a questionable assertion, given how the president continually referenced Romney, defending how his moves to save GM and Chrysler demanded change and accountability. "The other option we had was to do nothing, and allow these companies to fail," the president said. "In fact, some politicians said we should. Some even said we should 'let Detroit go bankrupt'" - another reference to Romney's New York Times op-ed.
The crowd booed at that reference.
"You remember that?" the president said to the crowd that clearly did. "You know him?"
"Think about what that choice would have meant for this country," the president said. "If we had turned our backs on you; if America had thrown in the towel; GM and Chrysler had gone under."...
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