Reply #4: Chrysler declares bankruptcy [View All]

(edited for copyright purposes-proud patriot Moderator Democratic Underground)

Chrysler — the third largest US automaker — filed for bankruptcy in New York Thursday, announcing that it would close its manufacturing facilities until it emerges from a Chapter 11 reorganization. The move threatens the livelihoods of 54,000 hourly and salaried workers in the US and Canada and hundreds of thousands of retirees and workers at dealerships, parts suppliers and other related companies in Michigan, Ohio, Illinois and other states.

It is impossible to say how many, if any, of the closed factories will ever reopen again. Under the terms of Section 363 of the Bankruptcy Code, big investors can pick and choose what factories and assets to buy, while discarding others. Any workers who remain at a downsized Chrysler will be subjected to near-poverty wages and backbreaking conditions under the terms of the agreement signed by the United Auto Workers and rammed down the throats of Chrysler workers on Wednesday...

Under a so-called “363 sale,” a new buyer—known in financial circles as a “stalking horse” — can purchase the most profitable factories and assets, while leaving the company’s undesirable parts, including the tens of billions of dollars in pension and health care obligations owed to Chrysler’s 125,000 retirees and their dependents, to languish in bankruptcy courts for years.

At a noontime press appearance yesterday, Obama cynically portrayed the bankruptcy of Chrysler and its planned merger with Fiat as a new “lease on life” for the firm, which would “save” tens of thousands of jobs. The bankruptcy process, the president claimed, would be “quick and efficient”—lasting only 30 to 60 days—and would not “disrupt the lives of people who work at Chrysler or live in the communities who depend on it.”

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2009/may2009/chry-m01.shtml