Even though 73,000 union members walked off the job, waving placards and protesting at General Motors' intransigence, there was something about the United Auto Workers' short-lived strike this week that felt fake.

The motor industry is one of the last bastions of union power in the US private sector and, if GM had remained strike-bound, parts suppliers in Michigan and elsewhere would soon have been damaged. Detroit's big three are financially troubled and struggling to halt the advance of foreign competitors such as Toyota and Hyundai. The stakes for them were very high.