May 31 (Bloomberg) -- General Motors Corp. plans to name Al Koch as the automaker's chief restructuring officer tomorrow when GM is expected to file for bankruptcy protection at 8 a.m. New York time, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing unidentified people familiar with the matter.Koch, a turnaround specialist and managing director at the advisory company AlixPartners LLP, will be the highest-ranking executive at GM from outside the company, the newspaper said. He will oversee approximately 60 Alix workers employed by GM and will report to GM Chief Executive Officer Frederick Henderson and the automaker's board.
The 67-year-old Koch was interim chief financial officer of Kmart Corp. when it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2002, the Journal said. Koch also spearheaded a turnaround of Champion Enterprises Inc. that allowed the manufactured-home builder to avoid bankruptcy, the Journal reported.
If GM emerges from bankruptcy, Koch is expected to lead a new management team to wind down the "Old GM" which would include efforts to sell or spin off the automaker's assets including the Saturn, Pontiac and Saab brands and as many as 20 factories, the newspaper said.
| With all their union employees. Prepare for mass wailing and gnashing of teeth. |
| The union employees -- well, most of them -- are protected. It's the shareholders, bondholders, dealers and customers who take it in the teeth. But at least the UAW will campaign for and fund the Dhimmicrats in 2010, which is the whole point of this exercise ... |
| From what I've seen of such things, and admittedly my experience is very limited, the protections are for a fixed period of time after the acquisition/spin-off, after which all contracts are open to renegotiation. I would expect the union employees will be earning considerably less in a few years, those that still have jobs making cars. It just won't take place in front of the cameras with President Obama at the other end of the phone. |