by Tula Connell, Apr 24, 2006

LTV Corp. filed for bankruptcy in 1996.

Pan Am filed in 1998.

Worldtex filed in 2001, United Airlines in 2002, Weirton Steel in 2003, Dan River in 2004, Northwest in 2005, Dana Corp. in 2006.

Notice a trend?

The list of bankruptcies in recent years is far longer, but you get the idea.

Bankruptcy no longer is a sign of a failed business. In fact, corporations are filing for bankruptcy not as a last resort, but as a business strategy to make more money—jettisoning pension plans on their way to Chapter 11 and throwing off long-term commitments they made to America’s working families.

Delphi Corp.’s bankruptcy filing last December raises more troubling questions.

First Delphi proposed to reward executives who oversaw the company’s financial failures with lavish pay increases and bonuses, and now Delphi is exploiting the current law by excluding profitable overseas operations and investments from consideration in the bankruptcy process.

The AFL-CIO is supporting legislation introduced in the Senate (S. 2556) and House (H.R. 5113) to address such abuses. The measure also would require that companies fulfill their obligation during bankruptcy to explain why proposed cuts in wages and benefits are necessary to improve their financial position and how they will put the company back on track. That’s something Delphi isn’t doing now.

Let’s see if Congress pays attention and passes the Fairness and Accountability in Reorganization Act of 2006.

Then again, lawmakers may just be too busy trying to squeeze more blood out of the consumer bankruptcy bill they passed last year. Why would the men and women who represent us make corporations play by the same rules as consumers?

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