Chrysler Liquidation Would End 38,500 Workers’ Jobs

Chrysler LLC, the bankrupt automaker planning to reorganize, is seeking quick court approval of its partnership with Italy’s Fiat SpA to avoid a liquidation that would cost the U.S. thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in pension payments.

If the deal is rejected and Chrysler liquidates, “it will mean the end of an iconic, 83-year-old American car company,” and the loss of jobs for 38,500 workers, said lawyer Corinne Ball of Jones Day in a court filing.

Chrysler employees and retirees would lose $9.8 billion in benefits and $2 billion in pension payments, lawyers said in today’s so-called first-day pleadings that seek to organize Chrysler’s 25 affiliates into a single bankruptcy proceeding.