GM exec: Bankruptcy not an option for industry

[December 03, 2008]  WASHINGTON (AP) -- General Motors Corp. President Fritz Henderson said Wednesday that bankruptcy isn't a viable option for struggling U.S. automakers seeking $34 billion in federal aid, maintaining that a retooling plan they're giving to Congress this week is sufficient to save the industry.

Henderson said that General Motors is ready to undertake a host of steps needed to resize, but said that "to win, you've got to win with product and technology. ... And we do not want to give consumers a reason not to buy our cars and trucks."

General Motors is ready to undertake a host of steps needed to resize, Henderson asserted in an interview on NBC's "Today" show. But he also said "to win, you've got to win with product and technology. ... And we do not want to give consumers a reason not to buy our cars and trucks."

The interview came as leaders of the United Auto Workers were still discussing further concessions at an emergency meeting in Detroit. Under consideration were the possibility of scrapping a much-maligned jobs bank in which laid-off workers keep receiving most of their pay and postponing the automakers' payments into a multibillion-dollar union-administered health care fund.

[Associated Press; By JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVIS]

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