An ill not addressed by the Obama administration bailout and still afflicting them today: higher-than-average wages and legacy costs.

The Associated Press reported that, for example, the average United Auto Workers member makes $29.78 per hour at GM, while Toyota pays its workers (most of whom are non-union) about $30 per hour. However, when total benefits (including pensions and health care for workers, retirees and their spouses) is factored in, GM’s total hourly labor costs is about $69, while Toyota’s is about $48.
— CBS News, 12/19/08

After the bailout, which required some belt-tightening and sacrifice for all, it didn’t take long for history to repeat.

Hourly labor costs will rise to an average of $60 per auto worker by 2019 if proposed contracts at General Motors Co (GM.N) and Ford Motor Co (F.N) are ratified by rank-and-file members of the United Auto Workers union, a study released on Friday said.
— Reuters, 11/20/15

And as of 2018….

When companies decide enough is enough, the unions who inflated the wages (and receive higher dues per employee) are the first to complain.

The AFL-CIO labor union is worried that General Motors’ decision this week to halt production at several factories and cut thousands of jobs in the U.S. could be a pretext for sending work outside the country where labor costs are significantly cheaper.
— NBC News, 11/27/18

Businesses are created to make money, not because their initial desire was to be employers.

If people working at a company feel they’re being paid less than they’re worth, they’re free to leave and find a higher paying job elsewhere. When a union muscles their way in and forces a company to pay employees more and force them to pay a benefits package that will eventually mess with the bottom line, bad things normally happen.