Click to play videoWarren (Michigan, USA): World's largest automaker General Motors filed for bankruptcy on Monday.
The US government has committed to give General Motors $30.1 billion and will have 60 per cent stake in the company.
There has been no projection on when General Motors will repay its loans, but the company is likely to close 11 and vacate three factories. The company will also attempt to reopen one idle facility to build a new small car unit.
The auto major is expected to reduce its US hourly workforce to about 40,000 next year from 61,000 at the end of last year after having lost almost $88 billion since 2004.
But what happens to the employees of the company and the thousands of people attached with the brand. Is this the end of of the brand or is there a possibility of General Motors resurfacing?
General Motors has seen generations of the same family working for the company.
When General Motors employees were asked to raise their hands if their parents or grandparents worked for GM, almost everybody raises his or her hand.
But under bankruptcy, they'll have a new boss- Uncle Sam and US taxpayers, the new majority owners of General Motors.
"A lot of people are unhappy that they're helping us out but they fail to realise how many people are losing their jobs and how much the trickle down effect is for everybody because if we don't work, the people don't work," says GM worker Chris Andelean.
The trickle-down effect is hurting small businesses who count on GM workers to survive. Ongoing lay-offs are also contributing to Michigan's high foreclosure rate.
"Stress is definitely at an all time high," points out GM worker Nancy Kelly.
Kelly counts almost 30 years repairing GM boilers. Now she counsels co-workers battling alcoholism and depression.
"I think we all worry. I think we're in a time right now where we're all pretty concerned about what tomorrow's going to bring," she says.
It may bring as many as 20,000 job cuts, about a dozen plant shutdowns and about 40 per cent of its dealerships gone.
Some lifers insist a quality product will be there if the company's new owners will buy it.
"It's just that the American people are going to have to think hey, buy American, that's what we have to do-support the people that are here," says Bob Brinker, GM worker.
Will that support come? Maybe, if GM's next generation of cars is successful.
There is still hope as when asked how many GM workers think the best days are yet to come for the company most of the workers raise their hands.
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