General Motors and the United Automobile Workers Union announced earlier today a tentative decision to end the current factory strike that has crippled the auto company and is continuing to spread financial shock waves throughout the automotive industry, not just in the United States but around the globe. The strike is now in its second month, after talks broke down two weeks ago about salary and health benefits. Currently, American auto workers are among the highest paid blue collar workers not just in the United States, but throughout the world. The UAW is determined to make sure its members maintain that high standard of living, even as conservatives on both the state and federal levels continue to whittle away at the rights of unions to organize, collect dues, and go on strike. 

The Midwest and the South have been hardest hit by the strikes so far, with many ancillary local businesses suffering contractions and layoffs as a result of the idled motor plants. GM has said that the terms reached with the union are acceptable to them — so it only remains for the majority of the union membership to ratify the agreement. Once that is done, workers can return to their jobs within a half day.