The members are angry and fearful. Imagine you work a lifetime, and then you see it go up in smoke.

The close vote tells us there's a lot of anger and apprehension out there.

The court cases reflect that the rat has made its claw marks felt.

The global economy has become a blast furnace that seeks to eliminate many of the gains that steelworkers have won over the years.

You've got the pressures of the global economy, fierce competition in deregulated industries like airlines and powerful anti-union employers like Wal-Mart.

A lot will depend on who's the first company up. You may almost have an insipid auction taking place among the companies trying to be first.

The hotels are confronting a union that has significantly more leverage and more imagination than in the past. The union is slowly but surely introducing national bargaining in an industry in which the companies used to tower over the local unions.

The union has very painful choices, but it's managed to preserve important principles in a very turbulent environment. At the end of the day, UAW retirees will still have paid health benefits. Less than before but far more than most Americans have.

You could have the paradox of lifetime job guarantees and far fewer workers.

Health benefits have been at the top of the list for what unions have sought to hang on to. This reflects how serious union leaders feel this is.