See that's just the thing...companies lay people off because they don't have enough business at the moment to justify the cost of the extra/uneeded workers...why should they have to pay someone 80% of their normal pay to sit at home and do nothing that benefits the company? sure it's great for the workers but not the overall succes of the company...How will they ever get back to success if they are forking out all that money for nothing? I think the fat needs trimmed at the top more than anything,however,one could argue that those people(executives) are working under a contract negotiated in good faith as well.
Also it isn't just the fact that the big 3 aren't local to everyone...IT is almost impossible to get hired on there.I have several Uncles who work for Chevrolet and one was involved in management and he had a horrible time geting his college educated son a job on the assembly line...PLUS whenever an opening comes up, first dibs goes to people that are already employed by them ( like if someone wanted to transfer from a different plant)
I agree there is nothing wrong with recieving those benefits especially if they were negotiated into the contract ...The problem is when they renew their contracts is the time to compromise but they do not.
They don't strike while under a contract negotiated in good faith that's called a wildcard strike and it's illegal.I am not pretending to know what has or hasn't happened in the past as far as strikes go...but It is illegal for them to strike while they have a labor contract. That's a wildcat strike.