I think this paragraph from the Workers United Union’s website says it all.

The worker and labor activists’ efforts successfully thwarted Wells Fargo’s push for liquidation.  Last week, a U.S. Bankruptcy Court approved a pro-worker acquisition deal by British private equity firm Emerisque.  The deal brings the 125-year-old suit maker out of bankruptcy and comes with Emerisque’s assurance that they will protect Hartmarx jobs.

I was going through my rss feeds for Unionbook.org when I happened to see this post about another bailed out  bank in Wells Fargo thinking of liquidating a company it is a creditor of.

Determined to protect good, U.S. manufacturing jobs, more than 450 Hickey-Freeman workers unanimously voted yesterday to stage a sit-in if Wells Fargo & Co., their employer’s main creditor and a recipient of a $25 billion taxpayer bailout, liquidates company assets. Rochester workers are joining with employees of Hartmarx, Hickey-Freeman’s parent company, who voted earlier in the week to stage a sit-in if their plants were shuttered.

It is utter hypocrisy that a bank that gets government welfare can have the audacity to put 450 people out of work.

"These jobs are good jobs, and we’re hoping Wells Fargo doesn’t try to throw them away, but if it does, we’re prepared to do whatever it takes to secure the jobs here in Rochester," Joint Board manager Gary Bonadonna said.

Let’s hope that Wells Fargo will do right by these workers. Western New York has seen economic hardship for a very long time now. My guess is decades have gone by since the apex of Western NY’s economy. What a tragic scene it would be were Wells Fargo to liquidate this company.