When last we checked in with the folks at Volkswagen AG, they confirmed that they were going to go ahead with plans for a new U.S. assembly plant. And if all goes well, we've now learned, the specifics should be announced sometime after the company's all-powerful supervisory board meets, on July 15.

There's been plenty of speculation about where the facility might be located, with most "insiders" betting on either Alabama, Tennessee, or Michigan. The two Southern sites would put the German maker in close proximity to an assortment of other "foreign owned" brands, such as Nissan, which operates a plant in Smyrna, Tennessee, just miles away from its U.S. corporate headquarters in Nashville. Mercedes-Benz, meanwhile, has been building SUVs at an Alabama assembly line for the last decade.

As for Michigan, it's a long shot, most believe, though it could be payback for Volkswagen of America's recent relocation of its headquarters office to suburban Washington, D.C.

What seems all but certain is that the German maker won't be picking Pennsylvania. The town of Westmoreland was the site of an earlier VW "transplant" assembly line, which closed two decades ago due to a mix of quality and sales problems - and serious labor/management issues. Memory of such conflicts with the United Auto Workers Union may also work against Michigan, as it is headquarters of the UAW.

The timing couldn't be better - or more ironic. In this Sunday's Dilbert comic strip, you'll find the pointy-haired boss advising his miserable minions they'll be getting no bonuses, but top executives will use the savings to fund a new, motivational film, "The Sound of No Money."

While we'll have to see whether a similar film is in the works at American Axle, the Detroit-based mega-supplier, which just ended a bitter, three-month strike, we can now confirm that CEO Dick Dauch and his top management team will certainly not be singing that tune. Quite the contrary. The Axle board has awarded Dauch with a whopping $8.5 million bonus - double what he got last round - bringing his total compensation to $15.7 million for the year.

The board justified the raise by citing Dauch and other managers for their "accomplishments and commitment during a period of significant change in our industry." The biggest change: American Axle workers caved in on the company's demand for massive pay cuts, though they did get short-term bonuses to help them prepare for the new reality of earning half as much as they did before. Before we're accused of bias, we need point out that workers at American Axle - which was once a part of General Motors - were previously taking home salaries and benefits significantly higher than what employees at key competitors were making.

Even so, Bill Alford Jr., the local United Auto Workers Union official who led Axle workers on the pickup line, was quoted condemning the big-dollar payoffs for executives, whom he accused of profiting "in the middle of everyone else's misery."

Things are starting to look a lot better for General Motors – at least on the labor front. With the nearly three-month strike at American Axle, a major parts supplier, settled, GM is also getting workers back on the job at some of its own plants, several of which had been hit by strikes, in recent weeks.

After voting overwhelmingly in favor of a new, local contract, hourly employees started back on today’s morning shift at the plant in Kansas City that produces the automaker’s much-acclaimed Chevrolet Malibu sedan. Just days earlier, workers at another plant, in Lansing, Michigan, ended their short walkout – a deal apparently pushed through after GM announced it would eliminate medical coverage for strikers.

The giant carmaker was largely able to weather the American Axle strike because the supplier’s parts are mostly earmarked for large pickups and SUVs. Dealers were buried in supplies of those products, due to the shift in current market demand. But the Malibu is one of GM strongest passenger car models in recent years, and some dealers reported they had sold out of the sedan, which was named North American Car of the Year in January.

Among the highlights of the deal that gets Kansas City workers -- all members of the United Auto Workers Union -- back on the job:

• A $1,250 bonus to recognize their role in the successful launch of Malibu;
• Workers keep a $600 clothing allowance;
• And factory washrooms will now get hands-free flush toilets.

The good news for members of the Canadian Auto Workers union is that they’ve wrapped up contract talks with the Big Three. Tentative settlements with General Motors and Chrysler will go to members for a ratification vote over the next few days. The potentially bad news is that while the CAW has largely preserved workers’ wages and benefits, it may have priced itself into a serious fix.

With the Canadian dollar as strong as its been in decades, automakers can no longer expect an immediate bargain by building their products north of the border and will likely look at the new settlements as motivation to shift production away from the Great White North, industry analysts are warning.

CAW president Buzz Hargrove had a simple plan for this year’s national contract talks: “Get in and get out,” preferably as quickly as possible. The union surprised everyone when, on April 28, it announced an agreement with Ford Motor Co., four months before the current contract was to expire. It took less than three weeks more to hammer things out with Chrysler and GM.

Conventional wisdom anticipated a tough round of talks, in light of the large concessions made by the CAW’s American counterpart, the United Autoworkers Union, last year. But somehow, CAW negotiators were able to stave off the sort of givebacks – including a first-ever, two-tier wage structure, that the UAW had accepted.

The Canadians didn’t, however, block the Big Three’s plans to close several plants, including GM’s transmission plant, in Windsor, Ontario. And observers wonder whether that will be just the first blow to the 30,000-member CAW.

Not all that long ago, when the Canadian dollar was worth barely 60 cents against the American greenback, factories like the big Chrysler assembly line, in Brampton, Ontario, seemed particularly secure. It also helped that Canada had a national health care program, while in the U.S., the automakers were absorbing fast-rising medical costs.

But along with the two-tier wage system, the UAW last year approved a plan to help curb medical costs. And now, with the Canadian and American dollars effectively at par – but with general taxes and other costs higher on the snowy side of the border – the case for Canadian production is diminishing, especially if labor costs further tilt the equation.