It doesn't sound like the UAW is in the mood to be accommodating. So it looks like GM isn't going to get any more relief on the cost side until 2007. If they don't get it then, this is going to be an ugly situation.
While we give GM a 'B' for effort, this news is not as compelling as it sounds.
Although GM has almost $17 billion of cash, it could run through that amount very quickly in a strike scenario, accelerating the time frame for a bankruptcy filing.
This tells us what we already know, that this is a company in deep trouble. Their GM business is falling away so fast that their non-GM growth cannot compensate for that.