But she's worried about having a job long enough to make 30 years. Already she expects to be laid off indefinitely when the Delaware plant drops to a single shift. Even if she does eventually qualify for a pension, will there still be a company to send a monthly check?
"If they go under, there's not going to be any money to supply our retirement," she said. "Then I'll be 55 years old with absolutely no job and no retirement benefits."
Another scenario, one only a bit more palatable, would be for a weakened GM to slash retirement benefits so it could remain solvent.
Hopkins knows some Americans have scant sympathy for UAW members, who have enjoyed generous contracts over the years. Hourly workers with her length of service make over $58,000 a year.
Benefits are good. For a year after the Broening Highway plant shut its doors, Hopkins was in the "job bank." That meant she got paid even though she had no job to do. In her case, she used the time to volunteer in Pasadena.
Now, despite being laid off all of November, she and her co-workers in Delaware still get 85 percent of their usual wages thanks to GM payments that supplement unemployment benefits.
But Hopkins makes no apologies for her income or anything else. "Believe you me," she said, "I earn every dime of it, humping on that assembly line every night." Among her duties is hooking up brake lines. She had to quit welding because of persistent nosebleeds.
"I go to work hurting every day," she said. "People don't understand the whole scenario. They don't go in that plant and see why I'm making that money."
John Breznitsky retired from the Delaware plant in 1990 after 38 years of hanging doors, spot welding, metal finishing and inspecting cars as they moved down the assembly line.
Back in the 1950s, he said, he walked picket lines numerous times to fight for better conditions and pay. He and his wife, Mary, raised four children on his wages and enjoyed a comfortable life.
Now 82, Breznitsky stood inside Tom's Barber Shop, where he cuts hair part time, and confided that he lies awake at night worrying about the loss of his pension.
"I've got a wife that has Alzheimer's disease, and I need all the help I can get," he said, his voice dropping to a whisper and his eyes dampening behind his glasses.
"I need anything I can squeeze out of them," he said. As for GM's financial straits, "I never thought that was going to happen."
IN THE REGION
General Motors makes autos in Newport, Del., and transmissions in White Marsh. Here is a company overview of the plants:
* Wilmington Assembly: Opened in 1947, produces the Pontiac Solstice, Saturn Sky and Opel GT. It employs about 1,200 workers.
* GMPT Baltimore Transmission: Opened in 2000, produces transmissions for the GM Powertrain division. It employs 239 hourly and 61 salaried workers.
