GM, Chrysler bankruptcies may cost quarter million jobs: report
Press Trust of India / Washington Jun 01, 2009, 21:24 IST
Bankruptcies of automakers General Motors (GM) and Chrysler could cost as many as quarter million people their jobs over the next year and a half, a media report says.
According to a report in MarketWatch.Com, a publication of Dow Jones & Company, "If all goes according to plan, the bankruptcies of GM and Chrysler, which went bankrupt in late April, could cost about a quarter million people their jobs over the next year and a half."
The report quoted a top researcher at the Center for Automotive Research, a non-profit research organisation funded in part by the auto industry as saying that "Whether GM's bankruptcy turns out to be a major or minor chapter in US economic history will depend greatly on how quickly and painlessly it emerges as a new company, ready to compete".
In its reorganisation as it comes out of bankruptcy, GM would employ fewer workers, operate fewer plants and produce fewer cars, even in the best-case scenario.
The MarketWatch report said that much of the required downsizing had already taken place as GM's position as the pre-eminent car maker in the world has eroded over the past three decades.
"During that time, GM's US workforce has fallen from a high of 6,20,000 in 1979 to about 1,20,000 now," it stated.
This is very sad news.Things just seem to be going from bad to worse.Wonder when normalcy will return.
Incidentally there is an interesting website that is specifically dedicated to recession victims.It offers help and discusses all issues related to recession- http://www.angstcorner.com. It's worth a visit!
What about the people at the dealership level. The unions will take care of the auto workers, but dealership staffs are just SOL. Somebody should have given thought to this long before now, they'll be hundreds of thousands of dealership employees left out in the cold with no where to turn. Not to mention all the out side companies dealers support through sublet services. The American car biz as we know it will go the way of TV makes in the 70's if Americans don't wake up and support the American built vehicles industry.
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