Evander Klum asked:
According to an unnamed source familiar with the situation, Chrysler LLC is set to idle its assembly plant in Sterling Heights, Michigan next week. And that’s not the only one, the plant that produces the Dodge Avenger and the Chrysler Sebring with quality Dodge ball joints will also be idled for a week in November.
Chrysler has refrained from commenting on this issue. For this week Chrysler will be idling six other assembly plants including one in Mexico as part of its building inventory levels explained the company.
And of course since the employees and the workers at the plant are to be affected, the United Auto Workers union has set a deadline for a new labor agreement with Chrysler and even threatened a strike in case no deal is reached by then.
It can be noted that the workers at a Chrysler LLC parts plant in Perrysburg has agreed to a deal last year that will result to the cutting of hundred jobs within the next few years. Unfortunately it seems like some may lose their jobs sooner than they expected that is if the United Auto Workers Union will pushed through with the strike as protest if company negotiators will not reach a settlement on a new contract by Wednesday.
The deadline will affect two Ohio plants: the Perrysburg site located just outside Toledo and the plant in Twinsburg, 15 miles southeast of Cleveland. Each of these plants employs around 1,500 people. The workers at the Chrysler’s biggest Ohio factory which is a Jeep assembly plant in Toledo are covered by a separate labor contract thereby not included in the strike. But despite such fact still production will be affected since parts made at other locations that are being used for the production in Toledo may become unavailable.
According to Chrysler spokeswoman Michele Tinson even if the deadline passes still the union could still extend the contract as negotiations continue. The UAW represents about 49,000 hourly workers at Chrysler. It can be remembered that workers the union represents has already went on strike for nearly two days last month before reaching an agreement with GM.
UAW workers at Chrysler LLC are really fighting for their right to keep their jobs especially since a year ago specifically at the machining plant in Perrysburg, they have agreed to job changes to make way for the production of the new V6 engine and to keep the plant from closing. But it seems like all their efforts are just in vain since the company still plans to slash around 800 jobs by 2011 and to pay new employees with wages much lowered than the current workers. Currently the plant produces steering columns and torque converters but will again shift to work on engines.
At the Twinsburg Stamping plant, Chrysler plans of eliminating 110 jobs by 2009. The plant opened in 1957 and stamps hoods, side panels, and roofs for vehicles including the Dodge Dakota, Chrysler and Dodge minivans plus three Jeep models. And according to Twinsburg Finance Director Joanne Terry the Twinsburg plant has been the city’s biggest employer since it started.
NEIGH
