douglas fraser headed the united auto worker it was 1979. i was president of the union.a asked to meet with me. he says, "after all these years "we no longer can afford in chrysler "to follow the pattern that's been established in ford and in general motors." he laid out the economic case, and it's convincing. you're talking about the very survival of the corporation. much more important to me was the survival of the workers. fighting for survival, union workers agreed to pay-cuts more than $450 million worth. but what could chrysler give the union in return? we had to make horrendous concessions and in those negotiations, we were able to get profit sharing. and we were able to get some assurances against additional plant closings. we wanted a voice in the decisions that affect the lives of our members. they proposed to offer the union a meaningful voice in all levels of management, including the board of directors. chrysler needed more than cost cuts to design and build and market cars america wanted. it needed credit. chrysler's troubles had cut it off from traditional