While Mitt Romney is campaigning in Michigan this week, workers there are letting him know just how offensive they find his claim that “we should have let Detroit go bankrupt,” when the economy and the auto industry were about to collapse.Skilled trade electrician and UAW Local 1700 member Jeff Klayo says Romney’s comment is “an attack on American workers.

We’re out there trying to get the American dream, we’re trying to keep our jobs, save our jobs, get a good wage, put food on our tables, pay our taxes….If the company is successful, we can be successful. If the company’s taking a downturn, we take a downturn with it.Not only is Romney’s statement, made in 2008, an assault on working people, it’s really bad economics.

On Wednesday, General Motors (GM) announced that 2011 saw its largest profit ever: $7.6 billion. That means profit-sharing for workers, who in turn will plow the money back in to the community—creating even more jobs and economic resurgence.Foreshadowing the political impact of Romney’s stance, Stacie Steward, a skilled trade electrician and UAW Local 1700 member, put it this way:

There’s not a person in Michigan who doesn’t have a sister or a brother, a cousin, a friend that is tied to the auto industry. Every Michigan citizen should be appalled by what Mitt Romney said.

Even a contributor to the conservative business publication Forbes writes:

General Motors (GM) went bankrupt in 2009. But thanks to President Barack H. Obama, it restructured itself and emerged from bankruptcy. GM’s record profit for 2011 vindicates Obama’s action.The auto industry rescue saved more than 1.4 million jobs up and down the supply chain. And helped ensure the resurgence of an industry vital to U.S. manufacturing.

But Romney’s opposition to bolstering U.S. jobs and key industries is supported by Republican presidential frontrunner Rick Santorum.Prior to the emergency rescue loans, UAW members made deep sacrifices beginning in 2005 to save the company, giving up pay increases, overtime pay, holidays, agreeing to a reduced pay and benefit structure for new hires and other concessions.

President Obama demanded additional concessions and shared sacrifice from both labor and management in exchange for the loans.In return, America’s carmakers retooled to create the energy-efficient cars of the future and repaid their outstanding loans years ahead of schedule.Says UAW President Bob King:

The auto industry added more than 200,000 jobs in the last two-and-a-half years, and 2011 was the strongest year of industry job growth since 1994. Demand for their cars is going up, so GM, Ford and Chrysler are starting to run three production shifts a day at many plants. Added shifts and new facilities mean jobs for thousands more workers in Michigan, Ohio and other places across the country.