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I'm not a huge union fan; though I am sympathetic to why they exist, they are generally a pain in the butt for me and my clients.
But the UAW has been quite flexible over the past couple of years; they have conceded a lot. They had their eyes open; they saw where the Big 3 was headed (what they, and everyone else, didn't see was the credit freeze). What they or anyone else hasn't been able to do is deal with the legacy (retiree) costs.
Union busting isn't about busting heads and threatening individuals any more. It's about threatening to further bust up a busted economy if the UAW doesn't prostrate itself before you.
I'll give the southern wing of the GOP credit- they do brinkmanship better than anyone. I'm guessing they calculated that GWB would come through with TARP funds, so if their union-busting effort failed, they'd still look like heroes to their paymasters and consituents (who'll take a job with bad benefits over no job), and wouldn't have to actually suffer the Big-3 failing (which, guess what, could take out a fair amount of the supplier base for the southern automakers as well).
