Mitt Romney, WEBN-TV (Creative Commons)

“I’ve taken on union bosses before, and I’m happy to take them on again,” he told a crowd at an office furniture warehouse on Feb. 15 in Grand Rapids, Michigan, reported The Washington Post. “I sure won’t give into the UAW.”

For Romney-- the son of an auto company executive-- not giving into the UAW (United Auto Workers union) means he is standing up for the workers themselves.

"It shouldn't come as a surprise that the president has received hundreds of millions from unions, and he's been doing their bidding ever since," Romney told 11 business owners before the rally, reported The Detroit Free Press:

• To suggest he would have stood by while GM and Chrysler were liquidated, as his critics have characterized his position, "is so absurd," Romney said. "I can't even listen to that," he said. "Of course I wouldn't have allowed them to be liquidated."
• He said he advocated a managed bankruptcy -- as the Obama administration ultimately did -- but with a judge making decisions on how the bankruptcy would proceed. He said he would have provided federal loan guarantees to back up private credit lines to the companies, rather than having the government write checks to the companies.

This time around, Romney asserts the workers' rights are his foremost concern.  "I'll fight for right-to-work laws, and I'm going to make sure we don't force unions on people," Romney said. 

But that tactic might not be working as well has he hopes.

"He has little to gain from a frontal assault on the UAW and something to lose,” Harley Shaiken, a labor professor at the University of California at Berkeley, said to The Washington Post.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Statistics, 18.3 percent of Michigan workers belong to a union-- a 1 percentage point rise since 2010.

Detroit Fox News reported that Romney has toned down his anti-union sentiments since Thursday but continues stressing that there should be an "even playing field" for unions and non-unions.

Meanwhile, Rick Santorum has been reminding the state of Romney's shortfalls and past mistakes.

"Gov. Romney supported the bailout of Wall Street and decided not to support the bailout of Detroit. My feeling was that the government should not be involved in bailouts period," Santorum said in an address to the Detroit Economic Club, just 23 miles from where Romney went to high school. "I think that's a much more consistent position."

The Michigan primary will take place on February 28.  Romney had won the state's primary in 2008.