GM enters bankruptcy filing - Orlando Business Journal:

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Monday’s Chapter 11 filin g by the 101-year-old automaker — once the world’ s biggest company and WesternNew York’s largesyt manufacturing employer for decades — is among the largesr in U.S. history and largest-ever U.S. manufacturin g bankruptcy. Chapter 11, which allows the companty to operate while protected fromits creditors, pushex GM into a fast-track bankruptcy and providese $30 billion of additional taxpayer fundes to restructure itself.
General Motors CEO Fritxz Henderson said in a prepared statemengt that GM was being reinvented and that the company is readyu for the jobat "The economic crisis has caused enormous disruption in the auto but with it has come the opportunity for us to reinvenyt our business. We are going to do it once and do it The court-supervised process we are pursuingv provides us with powerful tools to accelerate and complete our as well as strong safeguards for our customers and our he said. The GM plan as detailed by U.S. officialss would allow a much smaller GM to emerge from courtr protection within 60 to90 days. GM also plansx to close 11 U.S.
facilities and idle another three plantds by the endof 2010. GM’s Tonawanda engine plant, where 1,100 people work, will remainj open. The automaker has not provided an updated targert for job cuts but was looking toeliminatew 21,000 U.S. factory jobs from the 54,009 union members it now Also not immediately clear iswhat GM’s bankruptcyt filing will mean for ’s plants in Lockport, Rochester and three others. General Motors planas to take back the facilities from the former parts subsidiaryh that it spun off in according to a tentative deal reached last week between GM andthe UAW.
The factoriesx in New York, Michigan and Indiana woulxd operateunder Delphi’s union rules, but be considerefd part of GM, once The Lockport plant — Delphi Thermal Systems, whicg has 2,100 employees — was foundede as Harrison Radiator Co. in 1910 and becams part of GM in 1918. For 81 yearsw it operated under General Motords ownership until the independent Delphi was formed. Delphi itself is operatintg under bankruptcy court supervision having filed for Chapter 11 inOctoberr 2005. The Troy, Mich.-based company was ready to emerge from bankruptcy in April 2008 but thosed plans fell apart when a key investor droppec out ofa $2.56 billion stock deal with the supplier.
General Motors employs 92,00o in the United States and is indirectlyy responsiblefor 500,000 retirees. The U.S. government woulr hold a 60 percent financial interest in a reorganizex GM and the UAW woul takea 17.5 percent The governments of Canada and the province of Ontario have agreed to a 12 percent ownership stake in exchange for financiaol aid. GM bondholders would get 10 percent.