[Old North State]

Whatever happened to Erisa...

I think that's part of the problem here. ERISA should apply to GM, Chrysler, et al, for non-union personnel, but the retirees don't want to be subject to the ERISA caps on retirement pay.
I think a sensible alternative to billions in taxpayer loans(handouts that will never be repaid) would have been to extent ERISA to all effected employees, union or not, and to put them all on Medicare. That would have been less expensive to the taxpayers who wind up footing the bill anyway.

[Jim from C-Town]

They are already on medicare and SS benefits. Their retirement should be sent to ERISA just like the retirements of all other bankrupt companies. They will then be able to either buy the supplemental insurance they have now, at the cost of several hundred $’s a month. Or they can get a Medicare + program from a private insurance company for free.

The problem is that many of these retirees never saved a nickle and expect the tax payers to keep them in their gold standard of living because they were ridiculously overpaid for a few decades of clock punching at Chrysler.