Having a 'plan to fail' at Delphi didn't seem to make sense until now

EDITOR:
As a retiree of Delphi Packard Electric I feel the complete picture of Delphi's' demise is not being fairly and honestly portrayed by management.
It was correctly stated in The Vindicator that the work force in Warren has been slashed from more than 10,000 employees to less than 4,000 and most of those jobs were sent to Mexico. I also know that the workers gave up some paid holidays and paid absence days. A lower tier wage group was accepted. Quality was drastically improved. Even Mr. Miller admitted he was impressed with the fact that the Vienna plant produced millions of parts with zero defects. My point is that the workforce has been cooperative and reasonable with management's demands.
It is a fact that Delphi is globally profitable.
For the last five years that I worked at Delphi I kept hearing rumors that they had a plan to fail. I never understood what that meant. I could not see the wisdom of a company wanting to fail. It is starting to make sense to me now.
In the wake of LTV, Continental Airlines, Enron, K-mart, and on and on, it seems that the new business plan du jour is to file bankruptcy. When a company emerges from bankruptcy they are then free to "reorganize." Reorganization allows them to dump their former stockholders shares as worthless. It also allows them to get out of their agreed-to contracts for workers salaries, pensions and medical benefits. After they reorganize, their executives are not only still in place but they are in possession of million dollar bonuses. Their new stock is soaring and they are now profitable. What an interesting concept!
It seems to me to be a win/win solution for the company and a lose/lose for the stockholders and employees. As of the time Delphi filed, it is all totally legal too.
I find the timing of the revelation of improper auditing of the books at Delphi highly coincidental. I also question why one week or so before new bankruptcy laws are about to go into effect that suddenly they are failing so badly they must file immediately. I will add here, that I have heard that the new laws will allegedly prevent executives from receiving bonuses in the future when a company files bankruptcy. Furthermore I question why Delphi accepted a four-year union contract if they were so unprofitable, unless they indeed had a plan to fail.
It remains to be seen what effect the new laws will have on business, but I for one will be closely following the situation and hoping that our government is finally going to rule in favor of labor instead of big business. I do not feel that it is moral for companies to be allowed to dismiss their wage, pension, and medical agreements after a person has been a loyal employee for 30 or more years and then turn around and grant the very people who mismanaged the company a bonus. The members of management should go down with the ship. I think they would try a lot harder to keep a company solvent if they were going to lose everything they ever worked for right along side of the rest of the employees.
KATHY AARON
Boardman