Checker Files for Bankruptcy
By Michelle Krebs January 20, 2009Checker Motors Corp., the auto-parts maker that used to produce Checker taxi cabs, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
Checker sought court protection last Friday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Michigan, citing problems such as rising raw material prices and the falling market share of its automaker customers, which include General Motors, Ford and Chrysler, for its situation.
The company also said it had been unsuccessful in negotiating with its union lower wages competitive with other suppliers.
The 87-year-old Kalamazoo, Michigan, company, which has 246 employees and makes metal stampings and welded assemblies, said it had been unsuccessful in negotiating with its union lower wages that would make it competitive with other suppliers. The company made taxi cabs more than 25 years ago.
In its bankruptcy documents listed 2,100 potential creditors, the largest being $1.5 million in unsecured debt owed to another Michigan automotive supplier, Walker Tool and Die Inc., of Grand Rapids.
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