This evening, the Sun-Times, the Tribune, and Crain's all have articles up on the final sale of bankrupt suitmaker Hartmarx Inc. to British private equity firm Emerisque, but only the Quad-City Times has the full story.  And it includes some bad news.

Apparently, a last-minute dispute over which of the parties would pay $2.4 million in additional costs -- including $700,000 in legal fees -- led to a decision to close the company's Seaford Clothing plant in Rock Island (as well as another facility in Alabama). 

The 300 workers at the factory were expecting to receive their paychecks today.  Instead, they are out of job:

Karen Kinney, the president of the union local representing Seaford workers, said she was told by workers at the plant and by management that there wasn't enough cash to cover payroll. [...]

Kinney said she feels betrayed.

"We were all excited. We thought we had jobs," she said.

This is a very unfortunate end to what had been a real triumph for the Hartmarx workers, their union representatives, and the numerous elected officials who stepped up over the past few months to help protect the company from liquidation (get the full backstory here).  One of the central players in the saga was Rep. Phil Hare, who himself used to work at the Rock Island plant.  He told the Quad-City Times that the news of the closure "blindsided" him.  Hare also released the following statement:

I am greatly disappointed by this announcement. I pushed as hard as I could so that the loyal and hard working employees at Seaford could keep their jobs.  In the end, it was out of the hands of the workers, government officials and union leaders who fought mightily to keep this facility open.

As the deal was negotiated, it was apparent that Hartmarx had significant debts and accounting issues due to mismanagement at the company that was not known before.  The millions of dollars in additional costs due to this proved too great to allow a deal to go forward that would keep the company intact.  Unfortunately, the Seaford plant and its workers are the victims of this gross mismanagement.

I will do all that I can to see that these employees get the help they need in trying to find new employment as well as any transitional benefits to help them and their families while they look for work.  As a former worker at Seaford, my heart goes out to all of the workers and their families.

By all accounts, the jobs at the Hartmarx facilities in Des Plaines, IL, Rochester, NY, and Michigan City, IN are all safe.  We'll have more details as they surface.