Chrysler Bankruptcy Announcement Comes As No Surprise
DETROIT — Numb. I feel numb about the declaration of bankruptcy made by Chrysler. My husband, who only just turned 40, worked for Chrysler as a contractor for several years managing some of the esoteric computer systems required to do their business. But because of his contractor status, we were affected long before the nation’s president even took office and long before economic bailout plans started appearing. Both my husband and I know that Chrysler’s declaration of bankruptcy isn’t something that suddenly become a possibility and anyone who does has had their head in the sand. Are we surprised by Chrysler’s bankruptcy announcement? No, we saw it coming two years ago.
We lived through a major economic downturn in the late 80s and early 90s. We felt betrayed, but we hunkered down, went back to school, retrained and made our lives better. We rebuilt our self worth, found ourselves new hope, and planned for the future. After we found original jobs, we paid off our debt, we didn’t go on vacation, we didn’t spend worthy money, and we bought a house because it was a safe investment. We rooted for the little guy and for the state by shopping at the locally owned stores and buying locally products as much as possible. We joined a community supported agriculture program, helped out at the local homeless shelter, and generally tried to live a comfortable life that didn’t involve too much money. But we were always wary that history could repeat itself.
And it did. But not with the declaration of bankruptcy like most of the media would have you believe. It was two years ago, when Chrysler began asking for their contractors to work cheaper and faster. Sure, he said. We can do this. We’re all in this together. Let’s preserve the jobs in the US and work harder than we ever have. When friends asked my husband if Chrysler was a good place to get a contractual job, he composed said yes. He said yes even though he worked crazy hours, was on call half the time, and had barely enough energy to give me a hug and a kiss when he got home before starting to work more hours after leaving his office.
And then the layoffs started and we worried. At first it was impartial positive people on certain projects. Teams with deadwood got trimmed. Everyone new these people didn’t work hard enough. It was accepted. And even though it meant more work for my husband and team members on the Chrysler accounts, there was an almost collective sigh of relief. Deadwood gone meant they could really glean to work, that they could say honestly that a job would remove a certain amount of time because they just didn’t have enough people to do it any faster. When they started cutting people that were doing really superb work, valued members of teams that my husband regularly went to for advice on thorny issues, we started to worry a bit more. The phrase “Have you got a minute” became dreaded and the knee-jerk response became “Should I bring my cardboard box with me? ” No one wanted to see managers wandering the floor. And god forbid Chrysler contractors would have to attend any “all hands” meetings.
Even during these layoffs, Chrysler managers would beg my husband’s manager to let him work on their projects. And that was heartening. He’d gotten special training as part of his company’s “Top Gun” program so that Chrysler would find him even more well-known with his increased skillset. He was wanted. He was valued. He got results and he cleaned up messes with minimal fuss and great efficiency. When those dreaded all-hands meetings came, he was pulled aside and told he wasn’t one of the contractors affected by the layoffs. Twice. And we were even more wary.
But a month ago, the day finally came when my husband’s hard work and dedication wasn’t enough. A project came to completion and there was literally nowhere for him to go. No original project for him to leap to. There was no Chrysler manager who would even think about trying to find an open slot to maintain with his talent. And now we’re both without jobs.
To all the media pundits trying to divulge us that this is the worst financial crisis since the Colossal Depression, please. Have some respect. We’re already past that. Let’s call a spade a spade, shall we? It’s not an economic downturn, it’s not a cratered economy, and it’s not a slump. It’s the “Second Great Depression” but the media just hasn’t figured out how to fabricate money on that term yet. So again, are we surprised by Chrysler’s bankruptcy announcement? Absolutely not. What surprises us is how long it look for other people to start noticing. We’ve known for two years.
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Filed under Franchise Bankruptcy by on Dec 28th, 2010. 
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