By Alabama Public Radio
north Alabama – About 26-hundred jobs in north Alabama will be lost if Delphi Automotive can't sell the three plants where the workers are employed. The largest of those factories is in Athens. It employs 21-hundred people and manufactures steering components. Plants in Cottondale, which has about 270 workers, and Gadsden, which has 250 employees, will also either be sold or closed. Both of those factories make dashboard components for the Mercedes-Benz plant in Tuscaloosa. Delphi plans to sell or close 21 of its 29 plants nationwide under its latest bankruptcy reorganization plan. The company also wanted the court to void its labor contracts as part of the restructuring, but workers at the three Alabama plants voted to strike if that happened. General Motors is Delphi's former parent company and remains its largest customer, accounting for about half of Delphi's 29 (b) billion dollars in revenues in 2004.