Forty years ago this was unthinkable and treason-ness.  In fact Jimmy Hoffa, Leonard Woodcock, and a host of other former labor leaders are collectively rolling over in their graves.

       Without much fanfare the guy who runs the UAW says he's willing to reopen the newly enacted contract with the Big Three.

       Reopen a contract?  Unbelievable but Ron Gettlefinger is no dummy.  He knows that's the price the UAW must pay to convince a recalcitrant Congress to do for the autos what it has done for Wall Street…i.e. write a check.

       Actually Hoffa, Woodcock et.al. should be downright proud of brother Gettlefigner who gets it. It's either reopen the contract and lose some benefits and jobs, or lose the whole industry.  It may be unprecedented, but it's really the only ch oice organized labor has.

       Mark Gaffney who runs the statewide AFL-CIO calls this a historic week for the Congress where he says, "This is a chance for Congress to say, manufacturing matters."

       But there are segments of that august body that apparently don't give a hoot about manufacturing, but Gaffney, Gettlefinger and their labor brothers and sisters are trying to change some minds as the financial clock winds down for GM, Chrysler and to a lesser degree Ford.

       "Those who don't understand the need for an industrial policy, probably shouldn't be in Congress," Gaffney wistfully observes.  But they are there and so far they are winning as the auto executives and UAW come crawling back to D.C. with a plan in one hand and desperately reaching out for a lifeline with the other.

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