Sources say GM will discuss merger on Friday

According to knowledgeable sources, General Motors is expected to discuss details of its ongoing talks with Chrysler this Friday, the same day it releases its earnings for the third quarter. The report, which will also address liquidity issues, is likely to be grim, showing the nation’s largest automaker is burning through cash at an unsustainable rate.

Ken Lewenza, CAW president, told the Detroit Free Press he thought “the deal is done” and said “It’s not in the interest of the employees.” Lewenza was interviewed after the ceremony marking 25 years of minivan production at Chrysler’s Windsor, Ontario, assembly plant.

While Kimberly Rodriguez, a consultant with Grant Thornton, said a GM-Chrysler merger was probably the best solution for the two automakers, an increasing number of critics see the deal as merely an escape for Cerberus. Writing in the Wall Street Journal, James B. Stewart said, “Our tax money would be going to help Messrs. Feinberg, Snow and Quayle out of a tight fix of their own making…”