If he was in the Accounting Dept, it's doubtful the UAW contract pertained
to him.  He was most likely covered under whatever program was provided to
the salaried employees, which was not included in this explanation.

It's very possible that management employees walked away with much less than
the hourly employees.

I was at the local Sears parts & service enter a few weeks ago to pick a
part for our Kenmore dryer. The fellow behind the counter saw my Studebaker
shirt and told me that his dad worked for Studebaker for 37 year in the
financial department and had work in several zone and regional assignments
around the US. When the plant in So. Bend closed the family moved to Canada
for his dads last two years with the company. He said that his father ended
up hating Studebaker because after 37 years of service they screwed him out
of most of his pension benefits. He ended up getting pennies on the dollar
of what he rightfully should have received. He said his dad had passed away
several years ago. Interestingly time must be a healer, because after that
discussion he asked where he could get a Studebaker tee-shirt like mine.
This may be reflective of what has happened in So. Bend that past few years,
with the city's support of the new museum. The older generation has passed
on and the newer generations don't hold the same bad memories of Studebaker
that their parents and grandparents had. I also think we are seeing a
similar feeling in the old car hobby, that Studebakers are not the "dog" of
the hobby that they used to be. It seems that in the end longevity is the
true measure of success (look the Model A Ford) and when Studebaker is
compared to other car makers, such as Dodge and Rambler, who produced a much
greater number of cars in the 1950's an 60's, there seem to be a lot more
Studebakers that survived.