The nearly half million American retirees of General Motors are increasingly worried about the future of their medical benefits as the automaker presses the United Automobile Workers union to agree to deep cuts in health care benefits. Though the legal rights of GM to cut benefits for retirees as well as the rights of the retirees' former union to negotiate for them are a matter of debate, the company has allegedly threatened to cut health care benefits with or without the union's approval.
See "For G.M. Retirees, a Growing Sense of Unease", Danny Hakim and Jeremy W. Peters, The New York Times, June 29, 2005