And many, of course, worried about their own futures without a Plan B.

At Chrysler's Auburn Hills headquarters, white-collar employees such as Brian Dwyer, a project engineer from Ortonville, pondered the company's future.

'I'm hopeful about the future, but a little unsure,' said Dwyer as he lunched with a friend at Makimoto Sushi Bar and Asian Kitchen, not far from Chrysler's home office.

'Anytime the government gets involved, it seems that things get worse rather than better.'

Dwyer, like thousands of others throughout the region employed by the auto giants and their suppliers, doesn't have alternative career plans, making his company's bid for government particularly personal.

Joining Dwyer at lunch was James Wallace, who has worked for suppliers serving GM, Chrysler and Ford Motor Co. for 20 years.

Wallace said the auto industry crisis feels more urgent than previous problems the companies have faced.

He said it isn't just Michiganians who will be depending on the government's intervention in an industry collapse.

'I don't care if it's GM or it's Toyota,' he said. 'Everyone is affected. It's a global industry now and has to be viewed that way.'

Blue-collar workers at Chrysler's Warren Truck Assembly Plant spent the day with televisions and radios turned off, shut off from the speculation swirling about the restructuring plans.

'The better to avoid that we aren't being told anything,' said Dennis Leslie, 51, a 15-year Chrysler veteran who drives a forklift. 'Everybody's just waiting to see how much we have to give and see if we can live with it. That's all we can do.'

At GM's Renaissance Center headquarters in Detroit, white-collar workers were tight-lipped about the future of their company after 10,000 counterparts -- including thousands here in the U.S. -- joined growing unemployment lines last week.

The United Auto Workers rank and file spent much of Tuesday wondering just how deeply their paychecks could be cut under concessions proposed by GM and Chrysler.

Tony Browning, 53, a 34-year Chrysler veteran working at the automaker's Sterling Heights Assembly Plant, said many workers still find it hard to believe wage and benefit cuts could be looming, especially after years of givebacks that have eroded paychecks.'If we get asked to take big pay cuts,' Browning said, 'I don't see how most of us accept that.'

Browning said he's been through so many plant closures and buyouts that 'this situation doesn't feel that much different.'

But he echoed sentiments of many throughout the region, saying the state's once-strong industry will make the best of a helping hand: 'If given the chance, we can come back.'