We First
Hey, UAW...shouldn't taxpayers be first in line to get paid back in the wake of the GM bailout, The Daily Caller's Mickey Kaus wonders:

How about paying back the $15 billion first? I'm sure there are sophisticated arguments for why the UAW members shouldn't pay back the taxpayers who bailed their employer out of bankruptcy before they negotiate a deal that gives them each a $5,000 bonus. I just can't think of them right now. ... Just from a PR standpoint, repaying the debt would seem like a good idea. ...

Sure, as a going concern, GM has to pay to keep its employees from bolting to a competitor. But what are the odds that most of GM's UAW workers (i.e, the ones not in the $14-an-hour Tier Two) could find jobs anywhere near as good as the ones they now hold? Almost all their leverage comes from the Wagner Act's power to strike and not be fired. Without Wagner, they'd be free to quit, which they would not do. (Go ahead. Make GM's day.)

It's one thing to give workers power to negotiate above-market wages through collective bargaining-hey, let them squeeze the bosses for all the bosses can bear. It's another thing when they squeeze more than the bosses can bear, the bosses go broke, and ordinary citizens, many poorer than UAW members, have to make up the difference.