Chrysler to shut down all 30 plants for a month

[cathryn]

Chrysler to Shut All 30 Plants for a Month

By TOM KRISHER, AP

DETROIT (Dec. 17) - Chrysler announced Wednesday it is closing all its North American manufacturing plants for at least a month, the starkest move taken by U.S. automakers as they anxiously await word about government loans.

All three companies have been taking dramatic steps as they struggle to survive the recession and U.S. sales have dipped to their slowest rate in 26 years. Chrysler and General Motors fear they might not have enough money to pay their bills in a matter of weeks.

Attempting to cut costs, GM was halting construction of a plant tied to one of its most important projects, the Volt. Ford also said it will shut down 10 plants for an extra week in January because of sluggish sales.

Chrysler said it would extend the normal two-week holiday shutdown that begins Friday to at least Jan. 19 at all 30 of its factories due to slumping sales.

The lack of consumer credit is hampering sales and forcing the production cuts, Chrysler LLC said in a statement. Chrysler, Jeep and Dodge dealers say they have willing buyers for vehicles, but they can't close the deals, Chrysler said.
"The dealers have stated that they have lost an estimated 20 to 25 percent of their volume because of this credit situation," the statement said.

The Bush administration is mulling ways to help the automakers after Congress failed to reach a deal on $14 billion in loans for GM and Chrysler. Ford has applied for a $9 billion line of credit but says it has enough cash to make it through 2009.
Funding for the loans is expected to come from the $700 billion Wall Street rescue fund, but many Republicans have objected.

"It's clear that the automakers are in a very fragile financial condition and they're taking steps to deal with it," White house press secretary Dana Perino said in a statement. "We're aware of their financial situation and are considering possible policy options to provide assistance in an appropriate way."

House Democrats have encouraged Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson to adopt accountability provisions included in a House-passed auto bailout bill - the product of a deal with the White House - as a condition to get the loans.

The measure would have given a Bush-appointed "car czar" oversight over any major business decisions by the automakers.
The Bush administration has signaled that concessions would likely be required of stakeholders in the deal - auto companies, the United Auto Workers union, bondholders and others.

Chrysler spokesman Dave Elshoff said four plants will be temporarily closed beyond Jan. 19: two plants in Toledo, Ohio, and one each in Ontario and Detroit.

Toledo North, which makes the Dodge Nitro and Jeep Liberty, and Toledo Supplier Park, which makes the Jeep Wrangler, will be closed until Jan. 26. The Windsor, Ontario, plant, which makes minivans, and Detroit's Conner Avenue plant, which makes the Dodge Viper roadster, will be closed until Feb. 2, Elshoff said.

Chrysler sales were off 47 percent last month and are down 28 percent through the first 11 months of the year.
At Ford, a company spokeswoman said Wednesday it will shut down 10 of its North American assembly plants for an extra week in January, also due to lower U.S. sales.

Spokeswoman Angie Kozleski says the normal two-week holiday shutdown will be extended to Jan. 12 at all operating assembly plants except those in Claycomo, Mo., near Kansas City, and the Dearborn, Mich., truck plant.

Ford will also extend the shutdown at some engine, transmission and parts stamping plants, or temporarily shut portions of them to match cuts at the assembly plants, she said.

The extra week of down time has been planned for several months as part of the company's first-quarter production schedule, Kozleski said.

Ford Motor Co.'s U.S. sales were down 31 percent in November and are off 20 percent through the first 11 months of the year.
Laid-off workers at Ford and Chrysler get vacation pay for the normal holiday shutdown, then will receive unemployment benefits and supplemental pay from the company that total about 85 percent of their normal pay.

General Motors Corp. said last week it will temporarily close 20 factories across North America and make sweeping cuts to its vehicle production. Many of those plants will be shut down for the entire month of January.

GM said Wednesday it was delaying construction of a new engine factory in Flint, Mich., in an effort to conserve cash. The plant is to make 1.4-liter engines for the Chevrolet Cruze and the Chevy Volt plug-in electric car, two key products in the century-old automaker's plan to turn itself around after relying on highly profitable truck and SUV sales.

The plant's engines will extend the range of the rechargeable Volt, GM's high-profile next-generation vehicle that will be able to travel 40 miles on electricity alone. They will also power the Cruze, GM's new small car that is supposed to get around 40 miles per gallon.

GM announced plans in September for the new engine plant, but the company is delaying the purchase of big-ticket items needed to build the factory, such as structural steel, GM spokeswoman Sharon Basel said.

Basel said Volt and Cruze development will continue as scheduled and the company still plans to bring them to showrooms in 2010.

Also Wednesday, Chrysler Financial, the company's dealer and consumer finance arm, warned dealers that it may temporarily stop financing vehicle inventories if dealers keep pulling large amounts of their money out of an account that helps fund those loans.

Chrysler Financial said in a letter to dealers dated Dec. 12 that recent withdrawals from the company's cash management account have been "unusual and unprecedented."

Amber Gowen, a spokeswoman for Chrysler Financial, said the company continues to provide financing for 75 percent of all Chrysler LLC vehicles shipped to U.S. dealers.

Sluggish auto sales worldwide are taking a toll on foreign automakers as well. Honda Motor Corp. said Wednesday that it would halt expansion in Japan, Turkey and India and cut 450 temporary workers in Japan through February.

Nissan Motor Co. said it would reduce Japanese production by 78,000 vehicles and also cut 500 temporary workers there.
AP Auto Writer Kimberly S. Johnson in Detroit and Associated Press Writer Ken Thomas in Washington contributed to this report.


http://money.aol.com/news/articles/_a/bbdp/chrysler-to-shut-all-30-plants-for-a/280633

[FinsnFur]

Yeah it is going to be an interesting New Year. My Dad keeps telling me we are in for the ride of our lives.

[KySongDog]

I try to keep a positive outlook on things.   But one is bombarded by bad news so much it makes you want to retreat to the deep woods. 

[NASA]

Just don't go into the woods alone.  Be sure to have an HDR and your little friend along.  We don't know the hour that the Zombie Fest will begin.

[Hawks Feather]

While I am sorry whenever I hear of a layoff, I know of workers here at the Defiance GM plant who in the past have VOLUNTEERED to take layoffs.  Maybe the GM contract is different than it was a couple of years back and has lowered the percentage paid when not working, but even if it were the same as Chrysler (85%) I think some would take it.  How many here would like to be paid 85% of your salary and not have to go to work?  Darn near the same salary and be able to hunt or fish whenever you want.   I know that there have been posts here on this board in the past of members working construction - do you get 85% of your normal salary when you are out of work or do you only get unemployment - which is not 85% of your salary?  I always thought that on a "normal" layoff that you only got unemployment and that seems to be the case except for the banking industry and the big three, which both want you and me to pay taxes (that is where the money will come from) so that they can get bailouts.   Ten to fifteen years back I had a parent of one of the kids at school that took a voluntary layoff so he could go charter fishing in Florida.  We got to talking and his "laid off" check was twice what my "working" check was as a principal.  He worked as a general labor employee and was not management, an engineer, or skilled trade.  So yes, I am still sorry to hear of layoffs, but it is time to look at the whole picture when the banking and big three say they need help.   Basically, the big three are paying their people not to work because they have to much inventory - partially because of the cost of the products they make and partially because people are a little scared to take on "big price" purchases right now because if they (non big three workers) lose their job they won't get 85%.

I am aware that the economy appears to be in the tank and that many people are not getting the pay what they have in the past and for that I am sorry.  I am retired and paying more each year for health insurance and that comes from the same amount as it did when I received my first retirement check - fixed income for the rest of my life.  I am especially sorry for those who are NOT on the bailout list and get laid off.  But with a contract that pays you 85%, at a salary that most of us don't make, I have some reservations. 

Again, what I am the most sorry about, is the effect that this is having on the non bailout occupations.   Those who don't get 85% when they are not working.  Those that have to file Chapter 11 (which the bailout companies could do), or close the doors on a business forcing employees to look for jobs in a time when there are not many jobs available.

O.K. I am off my soapbox and ready to get slapped around for posting this.

Jerry

[KySongDog]

Just don't go into the woods alone.  Be sure to have an HDR and your little friend along.  We don't know the hour that the Zombie Fest will begin.

Not to worry.  I've carried my little friend with me since the day I came back from my southeast Asia vacation.   

[KySongDog]

O.K. I am off my soapbox and ready to get slapped around for posting this.

Jerry

Not by me.  The whole country is going to hell in a hand basket and we only have to look at ourselves to see why.  Look at the jokes we elect to congress.  When I say "we" I mean we the people of the U.S. 

Here is the truth of the matter:

    "A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largess from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship. The average age of the world's greatest civilizations has been 200 years.

    Great nations rise and fall. The people go from bondage to spiritual truth, to great courage, from courage to liberty, from liberty to abundance, from abundance to selfishness, from selfishness to complacency, from complacency to apathy, from apathy to dependence, from dependence back again to bondage. "

The above words of wisdom have been attributed to Alexander Fraser Tytler and Benjamin Disraeli. 

[FinsnFur]

I'm going to agree too. A lot of people have said that GM pays out more in benefits then they do salaries, and that's the majority of the problem there.

[Frogman]

Jerry,

+1

Jim

[Troy Walter]

Hello all.
Have not been around much,just got tired of all the b.s. and needed a break.And to let you know Jerry not all auto workers are like your friend, they don't take time off of work to do things they enjoy. Some of them work 7 days a week ,365 days a year with the only time off is there vacation time and 5 personal days a year they get. As far as the Layoff, it is called the gen-pool,it was put into the contract some years ago when the auto company's were making money hand over fist.And building plants left and right,one of the main things that has got them into the trouble they are in today(supply and demand).The UAW saw that there was going to be and over supply of workers and did this to protect there workers.In the past it was that you could be in the gen pool for ever and alot of people took advantage of it.Now you can only be in the gen pool for two years then you are done.And Iam sure that will change soon.And I can tell you this no one wants to be in the gen pool no more. But the gen pool is there so if your plant does close down they will find you a openning in another plant, if you don't want to move you are done.One offer only.But as far as not giving G.M. and Chrysler help and making them go into bankruptcy,well this is what i have to say allowing a judge to get them out from behind there legacy cost(this is there retire worker) that is wrong.These people are just like you Jerry they have put in there 30 years and are living on a fixed income.And to allow a judge to take that away and for them dill rods in congress that would allow this to happen to working Americans shame on us for voting these bone heads in.I won't get into naming them. But two rep. come to mind , one is from Tenn.and the other is from Alabama. So keep buying foreign products the next job lost could be yours.

[HaMeR]

I get 50% of what I grossed from Oct 1st 2007 until Sept 31st 2008 divided by 52 weeks. That does not include the unemployment I recieved for 2 1/2 months from mid Dec 07 til March 1st of 08. Of which I paid 15% taxes on. So by giving out 85% of their salaries while not getting product built is not going to change anything.  I am not bitter about what they get for unemployment. But I do know between all the unnecessary electronic BS on vehicles today & the UAW agreement the workers are losing their own jobs. We can't afford to buy what they are building plain & simple. Research & development needs a total overhaul. There is exactly no need for TV/DVD players in a vehicle. I don't need my vehicle to tell me when to change the oil or put air in a tire. 85% of Americans don't need any of this. So they are all just pricing their goods above & beyond what the average American family can afford.

Not looking for any arguments. Just expressing my opinion. 

[Troy Walter]

Glen Iam not looking for a argument, But as far as the gadgets on cars I could care one way or the other some are cool some are a waste. But as far as The UAW contract for one how can they be losing there own jobs when the CEO,s and top brass of G.M and Chrysler are making millions if the company does good or bad.The UAW pay is less then 20% of the cost of these company's.The legacy cost is what is killing the company but to allow a judge to do away with that is wrong.The UAW got into there contract to take over the legacy cost but G.M. and Chrysler had to put in billions into this fund.And now they don,t have the money but the UAW delayed the payment till they have the money.Because they don't want there retired workers to lose there retirement.But you also got to remember G.M. and Chrysler is not asking for the Gov.to just give them money like they did wall street, they are wanting loans.And if they do allow these company's to go into bankruptcy and you think things are bad now,the job loss all over the country will be sky high.Not only for the big three but for also the foreign car company.And one more thing if you don't think the foreign car company's countries are not pumping money into there car company's  you better think twice they want to own all manufacturing world wide.And if and when there is ever another world war do you think Toyota is going to make war supply's for us.I think not.So you can say all you want about the Big Three but when world war was going on who was the company's that stood behind this great country we live in,

[slagmaker]

All I know is I have been out of work sense the middle of September. I have been a maintenance man for over 20 years and I can tfind work anywhere. The jobs are there but no one is hiring.

[KySongDog]

Somebody has to pay for all of these government hand outs.   Who do you think that will be?   Our children.  They will pay for the rest of their lives. 

The "collapse over loose fiscal policy" is at hand. 

[alscalls]

I have lost two jobs to Mexico........no one bailed us out I do not see how we were any different than a Bank or an auto maker! 
Let them all fail and we will survive! No vehicle on earth is worth $ 30,000 or more   I think they should get the same as I got.......Jobless and figure it out yourself. I was a member of a huge union and I tell ya........when it comes right down to it....they will screw their members over.....I have been there and it sucks, so why am I any different than them!

[pitw]

I have one question, where is it written that you only have to work for 30 year's and then you are looked after for ever more?  I have never bought into that notion and now I'm glad I'm going the route I chose.

[Troy Walter]

Semp yes it is sad, but are kids and grandchildren will have to pay for this.But not because of G.M. and Chrysler but because of the greed that has went on at wall street.As I said G.M. and Chrysler is not looking for a hand out,it is looking for a load.Because they can't get there normal operating loans.
Alscalls
I am sorry for your job lost,but it is sad that we as Americans that are so proud of our country,  see are jobs going out of the country to places that can pay lower wages,but then most are still buying them products from foreign country's to save a buck.And if continue to buy foreign product you will see all of are manufacturing jobs going away.
pitw
Its not written that you only work 30 years, but if you are lucky to get 30 years with the same places which is hard to do these days.And you are 55 years old you can retire.85 points.Age plus years of service.
And no I don't work for G.M. or Chrysler.

Merry Christmas to all.

I am proud to be American,and will only buy American made products.

[reaper rabbit]

Hello to everyone...New to the forum and thought I could share some info with you. I go to work everyday at GM and let me say alot of the things that have been said I agree with. But the statement about layoffs is misunderstood, Some of the old-timers will take a voluntary layoff so the younger seniority don't get a forced layoff. The 85% of pay is made up from unemployment and what is called sub-pay, which we pay into. So it's not that GM is paying us 85% to stay home...that makes no sense at all. And as far as the vehicles, I agree that they have way to many gadgets and gizmo's...but it is a market driven industry that builds the products that the PEOPLE ask for and want. There are so many things that can and need to change with both the UAW and GM, I hope some good will come out of this MESS....By the way I'm not for the bailout, I believe they are making a deal with the Devil. Thats my humble coyote crazy opinion. 

[Todd Rahm]

The auto companies have been raking Joe public for years, and didn't seem to care or be concerned about it. Why is it that $35,000 rigs are now $17,000 rigs today?

My father retired from GM, so I got the GM discount, which allowed me to go in and get a truck they were selling to Joe Public for $43,000, and I rolled out with it for $25,000.

I have yet to own a Ford or Chevy that didn't have any issues (Well I did get the wife an 08 Malibue that seems to be doing ok. Oops we had to take it back the second day because when the put it together they didn't hook some of the wire connectors, (Thanks to Onstar for telling us)). My 94 had electrical problems that the dealer couldn't find but felt compeled to charge for me for, and wouldn't let me trade it in for a new one (Alarm). The new $43,000 truck was in the shop four times in the first 6 months (Warrantied of course, but none the less in there) I have a Suburban I bought new from Chevy that is now having the same electrical issues as my 94 did?

I owned one Nissan pick-up truck that had 300,000 miles on it when I sold it and the only thing outside of routine maint. I ever did to it was change the altinator.

I currently drive a Toyota Tacoma (Figure If I buy new this will be what I get again) that is great, and alls I do is routine maint. on it.

Boils down to quality for me. My father the retired GM worker  says the companies aren't making the dependable cars that they used. Plus every year, he loses more and more of his retirement benefits (Which are damn fine and should be with GM's profit margins) and a couple of buddies he retired with have had to since go back to work to supliment their medical benifits with better ones, or to get the income to live on.

I'm sorry for the folks getting laid of and losing thier jobs, but hey let a few of them go under, the country would be better for it.