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Tue Aug 12, 2008 10:22 am |
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http://www.theoaklandpress.com/stories/081208/bus_20080812401.shtml
Workers to protest Chrysler layoffs
By JOSEPH SZCZESNY
Of The Oakland Press
Dozens of workers from St. Louis, Mo. are scheduled to arrive in Auburn Hills Thursday to protest Chrysler LLC's decision to cut production at assembly plants in and around St. Louis.
The protest has been sanctioned by the United Auto Workers, though plans for the protest began at a union meeting in St. Louis, one union insider said Monday.
"They've been wanting to do this and it has been sanctioned," said the insider, who asked not to be identified.
UAW officials were unavailable for comment. However, the tentative plans call for the protesters to bring as many as seven busloads, or 350 and 400 protesters, from St. Louis for a demonstration in front of the company's headquarters and technical center in Auburn Hills.
Protest organizers are hoping the St. Louis contingent will be joined by workers from other Chrysler plants around Detroit when the demonstration starts Thursday morning.
Fueling the protest are complaints that Chrysler has yet to eliminate production in Canada and Mexico as it copes with its decline in sales. Chrysler's sales have fallen behind last year's pace in 11 of the 12 months since Cerberus Capital Management of New York acquired the company in August, 2007.
Meanwhile, Chrysler is now expected to drop to fifth place, behind Honda, in total U.S. sales this year, according to a new study from the Grant Thornton office in Southfield.
"The magnitude of the decline in truck and SUV sales can be captured in two key events likely to unfold this year -- the Toyota Camry ending the Ford F-Series' 26-year run as the best-selling vehicle line and Honda vaulting past truck-dependent Chrysler," said Kimberly Rodriguez, principal of Grant Thornton Advisory Services Automotive Platform.
In June, Chrysler announced deep cuts at two assembly plants near St. Louis, Mo. that build pickup trucks and minivans.
The cuts will lead to the layoff of some 2,400 employees, starting in September.
"It's not likely it will come back. We see no need for the capacity in the future," said Chrysler vice chairman Thomas LaSorda.
The cuts followed similar reductions by General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Co. However, the union leaders have complained unlike the cuts at GM and Ford, where both Canadian and Mexican plants have lost production and jobs, the cuts at Chrysler have fallen most heavily on plants in the U.S.
Setting aside the Jeep plants in Toledo, where operate four production shifts under a separate labor agreement, Chrysler now operates the same number of production shifts in the U.S. as in Mexico, according to estimates prepared by union officials. |
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Wed Aug 13, 2008 10:18 am |
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Demeralda
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Wed Aug 13, 2008 11:30 am |
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