What help for automakers means for workers, consumers

— -- What government involvement may mean to:

Workers

President Bush's plan includes targets for United Auto Workers' wages to be brought in line with what foreign companies pay their non-unionized workers in their U.S. plants and to have similar, more flexible work rules. Foreign makers can move workers from plant to plant and give them different duties or more responsibilities. Many union plants have thick manuals regulating what a worker can be asked to do.

UAW President Ron Gettelfinger is calling on the Obama administration to remove these "unfair conditions" when it takes office.

"While we appreciate that President Bush has taken the emergency action … we are disappointed that he has added unfair conditions singling out workers," Gettelfinger said.

Wages and benefits will be a key negotiating point in the restructuring. GM says it will have spent about $8 billion on labor this year.

What's next:Obama will face a difficult test with the unions, who worked hard for his election in key states such as Ohio. He said Friday that he wants to ensure "that it's not just workers taking the hits." He may have little choice but to force the unions to make more concessions.

"The irony is that Barack Obama and his team understand what needs to be done," says Don Grimes, a researcher at the University of Michigan's Institute of Labor and Industrial Relations. "But that's contradicted by what some of his supporters want him to do."

Creditors

Creditors were also specifically addressed in the loan plan and are being asked to cut the money owed to them by two-thirds in exchange for stock or some other form of equity.