[fabsroman]

Isn't retirement a benefit?

I have read in several places that Ford's health care costs in 2005 were $6 billion. That is a good chunk of change. They also made the mistake of using defined benefit plans instead of defined contribution plans, but the defined benefit plan was all the rage 20 to 30 years ago, until investments didn't return as much as they had hoped and they came up with huge shortfalls that they needed to fund. I think this almost broke Remington. Now, almost every employer uses defined contribution plans like 401(k)'s, and hopefully the Big 3 are doing the same.

Ultimately, I think both management and the UAW need to cut out a lot of stuff to get the Big 3 back on track. They should approach this as I am cutting X, what are you willing to cut, and continue on until there is nothing left to cut.