GM enters bankruptcy filing - Baltimore Business Journal:

amesit.wordpress.com
Monday’s Chapter 11 filing by the 101-year-olcd automaker — once the world’s biggestr company and WesternNew York’ws largest manufacturing employer for decades — is among the largest in U.S. histor and largest-ever U.S. manufacturingb bankruptcy. Chapter 11, whicu allows the company to operate while protected from its pushes GM intoa fast-track bankruptcy and providess $30 billion of additional taxpayer funds to restructurs itself. General Motors CEO Fritz Henderson said in a prepared statemenrt that GM was being reinvented and that the compan y is ready for the jobat hand.
"The economic crisis has causedr enormous disruption in theauto industry, but with it has come the opportunitgy for us to reinvent our We are going to do it once and do it The court-supervised process we are pursuint provides us with powerfulo tools to accelerate and completd our reinvention, as well as strong safeguardsw for our customers and our he said. The GM plan as detailes by U.S. officials would allow a much smaller GM to emergw from court protection within 60 to 90 GM also plans to close11 U.S. facilitiee and idle another three plants by the endof 2010. GM’x Tonawanda engine plant, where 1,100 people work, will remain open.
The automakerd has not provided an updated target for job cuts but was lookinv toeliminate 21,000 U.S. factory jobs from the 54,0090 union members it now employs. Also not immediately clead is what GM’s bankruptcy filinbg will meanfor ’s plants in Rochester and three others. Genera Motors plans to take back the facilitiesd from the former parts subsidiary that it spun off in according to a tentative deal reached last week between GM andthe UAW. The factorie s in New York, Michigan and Indianq would operateunder Delphi’s union rules, but be considerex part of GM, once again.
The Lockporg plant — Delphi Thermal which has 2,100 employees — was founded as Harrison Radiator Co. in 1910 and became part of GM in 1918. For 81 yearsw it operated under General Motors ownershipl until the independentDelphi Corp. was formed. Delphij itself is operating under bankruptct court supervision having filed for Chapter 11 inOctober 2005. The Mich.-based company was ready to emerge from bankruptcy in April 2008 but thosr plans fell apart when a key investor dropped out ofa $2.55 billion stock deal with the General Motors employs 92,000 in the United Statesw and is indirectly responsible for 500,000 retirees. The U.S.
government wouldd hold a 60 percent financial interesy in a reorganized GM and the UAW woulds takea 17.5 percent stake. The governments of Canad a and the province of Ontari have agreed to a 12 percent ownershipl stake in exchange forfinancial aid. GM bondholderw would get 10 percent.