May 7, 2009 5:45 pm US/Central
Obama Suitmaker May Fold Under Bankruptcy
Maker Of Hart, Schaffner & Marx Suits Is In Bankruptcy
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
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Unionized workers protest the possible closure of the Hartmarx suitmaker at their plant in Des Plaines.
CBS
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A worker sews a suit at the Hartmarx plant.
CBS
The company once known as Hart, Schaffner and Marx has been making and selling men's clothes in the Chicago area for 130 years.
They may not make it to 131.
CBS 2's Mike Parker reports.
Scores of workers from the Hartmarx men's clothing company rallied loudly Thursday to keep their jobs, chanting "Don't give us the boot; we make good suits!" and "Hey, hey, ho ho, Hartmarx workers will not go."
Maarlin Wegrzcyn, a 63-year-old lining presser, does not want to go.
"I can't get nothing to replace the job," she said. "I never get the money to pay the mortgage ... I don't know what I'm going to do."
Six hundred jobs in the Des Plaines plant are threatened with extinction, and the workers are blaming San Francisco-based Wells Fargo Bank. The bank, which received $25 billion in bailout dollars, is the bankrupt Hartmarx firm's chief creditor.
The bank appears poised to force the company to go out of business, rather than allow its sale to bidders who want to keep it running.
Employees are wondering how long they'll be working.
"We don't know if it'll be another month, a few months down the road or another year," worker Rob Franzese said.
Illinois Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias showed up for the rally with word of a letter he's sent. He hopes it will keep the doors open. In it, he gives the Wells Fargo CEO an ultimatum.
"They have a choice," he said. "They can either do the right thing and keep these jobs and make sure this business continues, or they can quit doing business with the state of Illinois."
The likely Senate hopeful then went into the plant to check out and to try on the 40 Long dark gray suit Hartmarx styled for his hoops buddy, President Barack Obama.
There's no word from Wells Fargo on whether it will give in. The banking giant has not returned our call.
But the bank seems to have, on paper, good reasons for not funneling more money into the business. When Hartmarx filed for bankruptcy in January, it acknowledged carrying assets of $100 million dollars, but half a billion dollars worth of debt.
(© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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