Keep Hartmarx in business PDF Print E-mail
Friday, 08 May 2009

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-oped0507hartmarxmay07,0,1177388.story

By Phil Hare

When I voted to provide the Treasury Department $350 billion in taxpayer assistance through the Troubled Asset Relief Program, it was with the understanding that the money would be used to help stabilize the financial markets, make credit more readily available to working families, and ultimately, save jobs. Unfortunately, this has not happened. Financial institutions have misused taxpayer money in ways that defy most people's comprehension. Credit remains frozen. Jobs continue to go by the wayside.

The loss of good-paying American manufacturing jobs is why I got involved in politics more than 30 years ago. The closing of a factory is more than just the loss of jobs. It hurts local businesses, home values and tax revenues. It also takes an emotional toll on the workers and their families, changing everyday life as they know it.

Employees of one such company -- Hartmarx Corp. -- are teetering on the brink of a similar fate. It filed for federal bankruptcy reorganization in January. The 120-year-old company has operations in Chicago and my west-central Illinois district. It employs nearly 4,000 people nationwide, and its workers make quality affordable suits in the world favored by Presidents Barack Obama, Ronald Reagan and Lyndon B. Johnson. I would know. I was a cutter for 13 years at Seaford Clothing Co., a Hartmarx subsidiary factory in Rock Island. Hartmarx Corp., now in bankruptcy, has faced worse economic downturns -- the Great Depression, the Reagan recession of the early '80s and several more through the course of the past 100 years. It can survive this recession.

There are three companies bidding for the right to own Hartmarx. Two of them would keep the company together. They believe there is strong logic for continuing operations because of Hartmarx's reputation. The third bidder prefers liquidation -- an outcome that would result in the loss of thousands of jobs, many in Illinois.

I recently learned that Hartmarx's main creditor -- Wells Fargo & Co. -- is leaning toward the liquidation route. This is unacceptable. Wells Fargo has received $25 billion in taxpayer assistance through TARP. In other words, the workers Wells Fargo may throw out on the street have been subsidizing its operations during these tough economic times. So much for returning the favor.

Wells Fargo also just posted a first quarter profit of more than $3 billion. If it insists upon destroying good jobs in our communities just to make a buck, Wells Fargo is going to have a fight on its hands. Last year, when TARP recipient Bank of America cut off credit to Chicago-based Republic Windows and Doors, leading to the closure of its Goose Island plant, workers fought back. They staged a sit-in to secure the sick leave and vacation days they were owed. Their peaceful and courageous efforts gained them national prominence. Today that plant has reopened.

Wells Fargo should take a lesson from the Republic workers. Do the right thing. Allow Hartmarx to be bought by a company that will keep it open for another 120 years and continue to provide its workers with the dignity of a good-paying job. It would be a shame if our president had to get his suits from overseas.

U.S. Rep. Phil Hare represents the 17th Congressional District of Illinois.

Last Updated ( Tuesday, 12 May 2009 )