Chrysler bankruptcy: Your views

Chrysler staff now face an uncertain few weeks

US carmaker Chrysler is to file for what the White House calls a "surgical short bankruptcy", and has formed an alliance with Italy's Fiat.

Some Chrysler dealerships will close over time but no jobs will be lost in the short term, President Obama said.

You have been telling us how the current situation at Chrysler is affecting you.

I served a six year mechanical engineering apprenticeship with Chrysler UK. The factory in Maidstone, Kent, still stands. The apprenticeship was one of the best in the UK. I specialised in machine tool repair and because of that, spent around 25 years of my life as a service technician. Most of that in international work that took me around half the world, meeting people I could only have dreamt of meeting. Chrysler gave me the grounding for a very successful and rewarding career. I can only wish Chrysler the very best for the future and hope it grows from strength to strength, giving people such as myself the opportunity to realise the potential they thought they never had.
Stephen Mendes da Costa, Maidstone, UK

I work for a Chrysler dealer in the UK. The temporary bankruptcy should hopefully give us a new long term future, and the merger with Fiat will bring us access to new technologies and hopefully a model range that suits the European market. Short term will doubtless bring concerns to our customers, but there doesn't seem to be any reason to worry. We'll still be selling cars, they'll still have a warranty, so it should be business as usual.
Anonymous

My entire family and most of my husband's family has worked at some time for Chrysler and the other two major automobile manufacturers here in Detroit. My father just took a buyout retirement package from Chrysler in November 2008. My husband currently works for a supplier of the Big Three, and as worried as we are that we will lose our livelihood, we are equally as concerned about what we will do to help our elderly relatives who will lose literally everything if Chrysler is able to discharge their retirement healthcare and pensions as debt in this forthcoming bankruptcy proceeding.
Sara Waldecker, Detroit, Michigan, USA

If I lose my pension that I earned working for Chrysler for 14 years, I will be very frightened.
Lorraine Gonska, Colorado Springs, Colorado

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