GM enters bankruptcy filing - Orlando Business Journal:

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Monday’s Chapter 11 filing by the 101-year-olds automaker — once the world’s biggestr company and WesternNew York’s largest manufacturing employer for decadesz — is among the largest in U.S. historhy and largest-ever U.S. manufacturing Chapter 11, which allows the company to operatse while protected fromits creditors, pushesa GM into a fast-traco bankruptcy and provides $30 billion of additional taxpayer fundz to restructure itself.
Generak Motors CEO Fritz Henderson said in a preparedx statement that GM was being reinventef and that the company is ready for the jobat "The economic crisis has caused enormous disruption in the auto but with it has come the opportunity for us to reinveny our business. We are going to do it once and do it The court-supervised process we are pursuing providess us with powerful tools to accelerate and complete our reinvention, as well as strong safeguards for our customeras and our business," he said. The GM plan as detailed by U.S. officialsz would allow a much smaller GM to emerge from courft protection within 60 to90 days. GM also planzs to close 11 U.S.
facilities and idle anothee three plants by the endof 2010. GM’s Tonawandas engine plant, where 1,100 people will remain open. The automaker has not provided an updatee target for job cuts but was lookiny toeliminate 21,000 U.S. factory jobs from the 54,009 union members it now employs. Also not immediatelt clear is what GM’s bankruptcy filing will mean for ’s plante in Lockport, Rochester and three General Motors plans to take back the facilitiexs from the former parts subsidiary that it spun off in according to a tentative deal reached last week betweeh GM andthe UAW.
The factoriees in New York, Michigan and Indiana would operateeunder Delphi’s union rules, but be considered part of GM, once The Lockport plant — Delphi Thermal Systems, whichj has 2,100 employees — was founded as Harrison Radiato r Co. in 1910 and became part of GM in 1918. For 81 yeares it operated under General Motorsx ownership until the independentDelpho Corp. was formed. Delphi itself is operating under bankruptcy court supervision having file d for Chapter 11 inOctobedr 2005. The Troy, Mich.-based company was ready to emergse from bankruptcy in April 2008 but thoser plans fell apart when a key investor droppeds out ofa $2.5t5 billion stock deal with the supplier.
General Motors employs 92,00 0 in the United States and is indirectlt responsiblefor 500,000 retirees. The U.S. government wouldc hold a 60 percent financial interest in a reorganized GM and the UAW would takea 17.5 percen t stake. The governments of Canada and the provincre of Ontario have agreed to a 12 percent ownership stakde in exchange forfinancial aid. GM bondholders would get 10 In anews release, the automaker said it woulsd focus on the following priorities when emerging from Focus on four core brandxs in the U.S. – Chevrolet, Cadillac, Buicki and GMC - with fewer nameplates and a more competitive leveol of marketing supportper brand.