An Obituary for Unions and 20th Century Pensions??

It's been a masterful run, labor unions provided job protection, brotherhood and piece of mind. Today most labor unions in the United States are members of one of two larger umbrella organizations: the American Federation of Labor–Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) or the Change to Win Federation, which split from the AFL-CIO in 2005. Unions came to existence In 1914, amidst a groundswell of public outrage, the Federal Government passed the Clayton Act which specified, "the labor of a human being is not a commodity or article of commerce." This key legal definition, which reaffirmed our Founding Fathers’ vision, opened the way for today’s Unions.

It was in this historical context that the USW (United Steel Workers) first began its organizing efforts in 1936 as an international organization, spanning the United States and Canada. By 1942, the USW had accumulated more than 700,000 members and formally adopted a constitution under the banner of the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO).

With the financial crisis of the "Big Three Automakers" (General Motors Corp, Ford Motor Co., and Chrysler) begging for another low interest loan of $25-$50 billion from the U.S. Treasury. The threat of (" this industry is too big to fail ") a systemic loss of millions of jobs if even one of the three (GM [particularly], once the largest corporation in the world) unions were good once upon a time (before the global economy). Goodbye old friend I'm vested and I hope you provide me my lifetime annuity in 2065.

My pension, however small, is mine but I fear I will traverse through this century with only memories of the myth of a "pension" like the cliche of a fairy tale "once-upon-a-time" so is the dream of a guaranteed annuity after retirement age and living "happily ever after" (with a monthly check) and with the death of unions it's co-dependent the "20th century pensions" shall die too. It was and is supported by ever increasing union "dues" and shrinking union "brotheren". With  the heaviest burden of healthcare cost to the automakers (est. $1200 per vehicle sold  ) the unions and 20th century pensions will be on life support in the trial clinic of the U.S. Government TARP; but they will surely die. What should we do?