On Mon, 8 Dec 2008 10:44:34 -0500, "Eisboch" wrote:

That wouldn't bother me
at all. But, as I now understand it, it's the company that pays, based on
a contract agreement made back in the '80s.

Yes. Why they would ever make an agreement like that is beyond me
but I'm sure the profits were rolling in at the time and no one wanted
to risk putting a damper on that with a strike. The short sighted
view of the auto companies is why they are in trouble now.