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Topics include:
*Intermediate Business Journalism
*Covering Private Companies
*Business Journalism Boot Camp
A bankrupt auto supplier has the financial lifeblood of a metropolitan city facing many twists and turns ahead.
Major automakers across Detroit hit the brakes this week when the top U.S. auto supplier, Delphi, announced it was filing for Chapter 11 this week. But even beyond the Motor City, business reporters from Indianapolis to Buffalo are putting this move into context for local readers.
For General Motors, the story lies with the liabilities the auto giant might assume from the bankruptcy.
"Analysts worry that GM could inherit billions of dollars in liabilities from the auto parts supplier, spun off from GM in 1999, and experience a kink in its supply chain at a time when it is struggling to rebound from losses in North America," write Brett Clanton and Bill Vlasic in The Detroit News. "The moves signal that investors are growing increasingly doubtful about the prospects of a GM turnaround."
The trickle-down effects from the fallout have workers concerned over their jobs and pension savings. The spotlight may quickly shift to union efforts to protect workers at all costs.
Delphi will likely turn to employees to seek deep wage and benefit cuts when it enters the restructuring process. This hits home to many across the Buffalo area, where a major production plant is based.
"Company officials have said previously that the Lockport plant, the Buffalo Niagara region's largest manufacturing employer, is losing 'staggering' amounts," according to Fred O. Williams in the Buffalo News. "Some workers see the spinoff of Delphi by GM five years ago as the first step in the automaker's strategy to slash wage rates and export parts-making jobs overseas."
Reporters in Indiana focused on the pension situation. The Delphi bankruptcy could impact some 2,000 retirees in the state.
"Over the next 18 months the future of many blue-collar workers in Kokomo and Anderson will be decided in a bankruptcy court in New York City," says J.K. Wall in the Indianapolis Star. "That is where attorneys for Delphi; its former parent company, GM; and the federal government will hash out who has to pay what to Delphi's retirees."
Reporters can really bring the story home to readers by talking to these retirees. Imagine if your financial future was decided in a big-city courtroom thousands of miles away. Virtually anyone can put themselves in such a perilous predicament.
But the larger story across Michigan is the impact on all automakers and their ability to compete with stiff foreign competition.
"Delphi Corp.'s bankruptcy and the money-losing automaking operations of General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Co. mean Michigan automotive workers should brace for more layoffs and tougher times for months, if not years, to come," according to Joe Guy Collier in the Detroit Free Press.
Even if you are not in the auto capital of the U.S., there likely is a story in your community. Go to your local dealerships and ask salesmen about their current and future outlooks. What they say, or don't say, may be very telling of the economic viability of the auto business in your community.
Copyright © 2008 Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism
