Black Box Report

More than 70,000 General Motors workers are on strike across the country, even as negotiators were back to the bargaining table today.

Analysts say the company has enough vehicles in stock to withstand a short strike. But if it lasts 3 to 4 weeks, GM could lose billions.

Now this strike is very different from the last one -- and paints a striking picture about how employment in America has changed in the last four decades.

Back in 1970 - there were 400,000 workers in the United Auto Workers’ union. Today there's only 73,000. The number of union workers in general has been declining, down to 12% from it's peak of nearly 33% in 1953.

The part of this story that surprises me is what you're not hearing. Where's the outpouring of concern or even the brothers-in-arms call for the UAW? Yeah, I heard the lip service from the Teamsters and SEIU , but the collective yawn from the American public sure is telling. We've gotten to the point where assembly line workers looking to hear assurances that their jobs won't get shipped overseas are told to get in line with everybody else.

The days of the gold watch after 30 years service and a lifetime pension are a thing of the past, and I get that. Economic realties and giant losses in the auto industry have changed a lot of things - but step back for a minute and consider what now rates as asking for too much: Health care.

If you think the middle class squeeze is just a cute catchphrase, take a second look at a dying breed also known as the factory worker. Outsourced jobs, vanishing benefits and a system seemingly rigged against the regular guy, have the gap between the haves and have-nots getting wider.

The bargaining between the UAW and GM is still going on, but today’s auto worker knows they've lost, the only question is how much.