Workers Get $7,000 Paydays After GM's Most Profitable Year

General Motors has posted its most profitable year ever in 2011, coming a long way since being bailed out in 2008 and going bankrupt in 2009.

General Motors has posted its most profitable year ever in 2011, coming a long way since being bailed out in 2008 and going bankrupt in 2009. And for once, reading a corporate profits report feels pretty good, with news that union members are getting a nice payday for their part in GM's good year.

America's largest car company earned $7.6 billion in 2011, a 62 percent increase from 2010 and the most ever in GM's 103 years of existence. And as a reward of the banner year, GM "says union workers will get $7,000 profit-sharing checks." So union members can thank Americans wanting to buy more American cars again (profits were up in North America but down in Europe and South America) plus, of course, the contract the union renegotiated with the company last year that guaranteed at least $3,500 in profit-sharing. Ultimately, Presidents Bush and Obama should get a thank yous, too, for bailing out their employer. Just don't tell the Republican candidates that the bailout worked.