Newspaper: DaimlerChrysler plans to cut 10,000 jobs, close plants

[Purveyor]

2/5/2007, 12:38 p.m. ET
The Associated Press

AUBURN HILLS, Mich. (AP) — DaimlerChrysler AG's Chrysler arm plans to slash at least 10,000 hourly jobs and close plants in Newark, Del., and Detroit, according to a newspaper report.

The Detroit News reported Monday that the cuts will be disclosed when the German-American automaker makes public its restructuring plan Feb. 14. It cited unidentified people familiar with the plan, dubbed "Project X."

DaimlerChrysler also will propose sharing vehicle platforms and parts between its Chrysler and Mercedes brands as part of the plan, the newspaper said it was told.

The plan is to be unveiled to DaimlerChrysler's supervisory board for approval Feb. 13. It will be publicly unveiled the following day when the automaker releases its 2006 earnings, the newspaper report said.

---end of excerpt---

http://www.mlive.com/newsflash/michigan/index.ssf?/base/business-11/1170697461292730.xml&storylist=newsmichigan

[LisaM]

1. German engineering - why not German job protections?

Thanks, Daimler. I notice they're not cutting any jobs in Germany.

[Kali]

12. workers MUCH more protected in Germany.

[terip64]

2. What a nightmare...n/t

[AzDar]

3. I would love to know: how many auto-industry jobs were lost during

the last 6 years?
And compared to the 8 (Clinton) years prior?
Strong economy, my arse.

[Purveyor]

7. An article in MiTechNews puts Michigan's current job decline at 362,700 jobs...

Full article at link:

http://www.mitechnews.com/articles.asp?id=6563

[havocmom]

10. And they won't admit that unemployed auto makers don't buy much of anything

We all do better when we ALL do better. The greed-miesters at the top of corporations just won't acknowledge that basic fact as they grab for all the pennies THIS quarter and ignore the future all together.

Lots of those workers probably damn close to retirement. THAT is a big thing to consider when wondering why US companies are cutting off their noses to spite their faces. They are abandoning loyal workers who are now too old to build a future. They are abandoning the very people who MADE them.

Those with nothing to lose become dangerous. Especially in the numbers US corporations are creating.

[aggiesal]

13. Great point. The chicken and the egg scenario. ...

Automaker can't sell cars
Downsize your workforce.
Unemployed workers can't afford to buy cars.

Automaker sell less cars.
Downsize your workforce again.
Other areas of auto manufacturing are hit.
They get downsize, with unemployed now
having even less purchasing power.

A vicious little circle.

[LanternWaste]

33. Say what you will about Henry Ford Sr.,

Say what you will about Henry Ford Sr., but I think he was one of the first (and only?) U.S. industrial magnates that realized what you pointed out.

[Blue Diadem]

4. It was only a matter of time before they jumped on the bandwagon

There are no words to express the anger and sadness I feel when I see these stories. 10,000 lives will change forever.

[Purveyor]

5. 10k is just the Chrysler cut, there will be countless more small shop supplier

jobs that will also be lost once these plants are closed.

Michigan is getting hit from all sides...

[Blue Diadem]

8. so true, I hadn't thought of suppliers.

I've often wondered how many are still left in the US.

[durtee librul]

17. Not too damn many

I can tell you that. I work in Supplier quality and the US supplier plants are quickly becoming a thing of the past - newest item...make it overseas, send it here to be 'repackaged' and shipped to the plants...unreal.

I have neighbors who will in all probability be affected by this.

It's too bad we as Americans can't see the writing on the wall when it comes to job loss. Lou Dobbs may not be everyone's favorite son here at DU, but like it or not, he has hit the nail on the head with job loss in this country.

Anyone remember ol' Ross Perot and his giant sucking sound of jobs going south of the border???? he got laughed at for that remark and yet he was a visionary of sorts in the employment arena...yeah I know EDS...(we used to say it stood for Everyone Dresses the Same)

[ryanmuegge]

39. Lou Dobbs is absolutely right...

He speaks the truth when it comes to the trade deficit, offshoring, and the war on the middle class. A lot of people, including that retard Thomas Friedman, do not like it. Class consciousness is despised and forgotten in this country, but it is necessary. I assure you, the super rich are very much alligned and organized.

[pampango]

41. I don't watch Lou. What is his solution to those problems?

[ryanmuegge]

42. I'm assuming balanced trade and common sense.

At least he's raising the issues. He's the only one in the mainstream media, at least that I know of, to have the temerity to question the corporate sham that is globaliazation. Everyone else (in the media), thinks that it's just dandy that everything we have is produced by battered slaves.

[skipos]

6. Just want MI needs. Ugh.

Michigan helped create the automobile industry, but these companies sure don't give a crap about Michigan.

[LisaM]

15. The rest of the country doesn't give a crap about Michigan

They think union workers are greedy, mix up Michigan and Minnesota, don't know it's on Eastern time, think there is nothing at all good in Detroit, thinks everyone's a murderer, and seem to think it's located approximately next to Kansas, since they keep referring to it as the Midwest.

[fujiyama]

24. LOL

This state can't even collect money from out of state people through tolls roads, because no one even passes through it (other than maybe some people that drive to the northern peninsula).

[woodsprite]

9. Well, guess that means my bro loses his job too.

He works at the Chrysler plant as a yardmaster for the railroad that hauls the cars outta there. I think he waited a bit too long to have his medical needs taken care of. He's just eligible for retirement, now he's gonna have to figure something else out.

[truthisfreedom]

11. Project Axe.

[ixion]

14. wow, look at that economy rock along...whoo boy-howdy...blazing like a wildfire

:sarcasm: :eyes:

[manic expression]

16. Smells like capitalism

Once again, we see that capitalism protects and helps the rich, while everyone else gets thrown out on the streets.

And there is a better way.

[Psephos]

18. How many on this thread drive cars made in USA?

Fewer than the US average, that's for sure.

Keeping union members employed by purchasing the products they make is about as progressive as it gets.

It's unfashionable - I don't any other word for it - for progressive-leaning people to drive a US car. The harm to workers because of this gets explained away with the usual snarky dismissals.

Peace.

[kineneb]

20. had they made a car I wanted

and could afford to feed, I would have been happy to buy a US-made auto. No one made a small station wagon in 2000, so I wound up with a Hyundai, which I still have. And they still don't make a small station wagon. (Not that we could afford to buy anything now; we are living on $14K/yr.)

I feel badly about the workers. We have been there- it was called WorldCom.

[billbuckhead]

21. Saturn used to make station wagons

Got real good gas mileage too. How about how Mercedes took over Chrysler in a phony merger, then took Chrysler's huge cash position to bail out bankrupt Hyundai and going broke Mitsubishi. Why? Bad management or something else? Can anyone say Deutsch Bank?
<http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/findacar.htm>

[LeftyMom]

27. Saturn sold the smallish SW2 and larger LW200/300 that year.

Some dealers probably had '99 SW1s (a great car, I still drive a '97) for cheap. Saturn did and does make great little wagons, and unlike the Elantra they're not going to give the driver a head injury in a collision.

[nolabels]

22. Give me a break....

The Domestic automakers purposely never retooled for many reasons and everyone of them reasons was about maximizing profit. As a mechanic i will probably never buy another new car because it just makes more sense to fix what i got or buy used because if anything happens to it i can fix that too. Assembly-line workers have been hinted to that the prospects for that occupation was limited at best.

The failure (or contempt) comes from the planing for when this type of thing was going to happen. The elimination of the pesky middle class is part of the unstated goal here. The automotive industry and the other industries that support that well being of all things automotive helped keep many occupied while the time for opportunity and change was fretted away. We don't have much mass transportation because it is too easy to put people in cars and make money from it. I have no sympathy for any of it

[Psephos]

23. No break for you

People are going to buy cars in the USA for a long time to come.

So the question is, does that money go to nonunionized foreigners or unionized American workers?

Notice the wording in my original post, too. I didn't say American-owned brands, I said American made.

Whether or not the "opportunity for change was fretted away" does not matter to the union autoworkers whose jobs evaporate each time someone buys a car made elsewhere.

You "feel no sympathy for any of it." I feel sympathy for those whose way of life is being ripped from them because people in the USA aren't buying what they make. That doesn't mean I condone the past. But the future is the only thing that we have any input into.

[nolabels]

25. You sound just like my boss at work

So many things on all cars are made in so many other countries that it is just about impossible to buy a auto with parts that are made in only in the USA. Unless you make if from scratch by yourself that is. Even then there is a good chance the steel and other materials that you are using comes from places outside the USA. The automobile is many things to many people nowadays but a product made domestically in any one country it is not.

This is just one more facet of corporations and how they have effed up things world wide. For the good of all on this tiny planet we live on we are going to have to give up these wasteful toys sooner than later. It does not compute to be wasting all that energy to move all them thousands of pounds of metal to transport a few hundred pounds of flesh. We are trashing the planet for future generations so some can play cars :shrug:

[Psephos]

26. I'm talking about assembly, which is the foundation of autoworker employment

You're talking about parts manufacturing. Parts used in American-assembled cars have been made all over the world for a long time. It's not the issue here.

Assembly jobs are disappearing by the tens of thousands annually.

I appreciate (and even feel somewhat similar about) your view on the wastefulness of automobiles, but that's a false argument. People are going to buy cars by the tens of millions in this country and even more so in other parts of the world, regardless of our wistfulness. Cars are not going away.

So, back to my original point. Should the cars we drive in this country help fund the employment of American union assembly workers?

Unfortunately, among many of my otherwise-progressive friends, the answer provided by their dread of being caught driving a politically-unfashionable American car is, "screw them."

[nolabels]

29. Rearranging chairs on the Titanic didn't work either

It is not hard for me to identify in the way you are thinking, management has brainwashed itself for years into thinking it could control anything that comes in front it. It's the mentality you need to understand. We are living on a dying planet and ecosystem that supports us is disappearing faster than we can blink. What i would like to ask anybody is what part of the ecosystem that they know of that is not failing that we might continue to exploit for our own well being?

The false debate is the US invading other countries to steal their oil because it has burned up all of it's domestic variety. Me watching the gangster thugs calling themselves government stealing your and my money to spend killing others on the other side of the globe through the use of mercenary's. We might fit in that definition of being civilized, but the only part that is civilized that i can see is how we tell lies to ourselves and others

Nowadays cars and trucks are so designed that putting them together is nothing special. I takes little skill, especially on a assembly line. Mostly to keep jobs like that paying a workable living Union wage you would need protectionism and high tariffs on imports which in their self are counter productive. That would make it mostly a make work project for domestic jobs.

We have the thruways and the tech to make the USA five times to ten times more productive with its transportation at this moment but we refuse mostly because everybody thinks it fashionable to be selfish

[corkhead]

30. show me a big three american made car that gets 40 MPG and I will buy it.

it seems to be "unfashionable" for the big three to make anything but big gas pigs.

[Psephos]

32. I didn't say Big Three, I said Assembled in America

Honda, Nissan, Toyota, BMW, and others make some of their cars in USA. Buy according to your needs, but support union workers while you do it. Be nice to the environment, be nice to your wallet, be nice to US workers.

Meanwhile, you might consider a Saturn Ion at 37 mpg. Nice car. The Big Three make a lot more than SUVs. Do a search on the net and you may be surprised.

[NickB79]

35. The Saturn Ion is being discontinued and an import is taking it's place

They're importing Astra Opels from Europe to replace it: http://www.autoblog.com/2006/05/08/the-next-saturn-ion-is-an-opel/

[Psephos]

37. Buy one of the many other US-assembled cars that fit your needs

Be part of the leading edge of the new progressive trend. :-)

[FarCenter]

43. Did Saturn fix their problem with burning oil?

Had a '94, 4-cylinder. Beyond 60,000 miles many of these, including mine, burned oil excessively.

Still have a '91 Honda with over 200,000 that is still going strong.

American cars lack quality. And quality is not "initial defects" or "complaints in first 3 years". Quality is how happy you are with it after 10 years and 100,000 miles.

[Psephos]

45. My 15-y/o Chrysler has 160,000 and runs like a champ

No rust, either - and it's a Michigan car.

My mom's 10 y/o Saturn looks and drives like new.

Saturns have generally very high marks on owner satisfaction, comparable to their Asian competitors.

So do a number of US brands...but you wouldn't know it around here. Myth reigns supreme, and the plural of anecdote seems to be data.

Once again, though, my original point was not to buy a US brand, but to buy a car assembled in the US. That leaves many options, including many of the foreign brands.


Peace.

[Scout]

31. I drive a Jeep, and a Ford Escort n/t

[jayfish]

34. I Drive A Chrysler...

and a Ford. The last foreign car I owned was a 1986 Chrysler/Mitsubishi.

I must not be a progressive. :cry:

Jay

[Psephos]

38. Lol, that's what I drive, too

An old but reliable LeBaron convertible. 30 mpg on the highway, too.

In my book, your progressive cred is stratospheric. :-)

[jayfish]

49. Old LHS Here.

It's huge and also gets 30 on the highway. I love'em.

Jay

[HughBeaumont]

47. 222,312 miles on my Lansing-assembled 1997 Cavalier here!

Yes, the critically-shit upon Cavalier, which they discontinued. Luckily I can still find parts for it. It still doesn't stutter or jerk even after all of those miles (200,000 of them highway). I want to see if it outlasts the wife's 2003 Corolla. :)

[raccoon]

48. I drive a Toyota Camry. Made in KY.

But I don't think their workers are unionized.

[rocktivity]

19. Oh, pooh! You mean their Super Bowl ads didn't work?

:eyes:
rocknation

[SoCalDem]

28. What a business plan car mfg companies have in America

1. crush unions
2. lay off workers
3. close plants
4. buy back/close distributorships


sounds like they really don't even want to be in business..

perhaps they should just throw in the towel completely and call it a day..

too bad they cannot just make an affordable car that people want to buy..

Ford's a prime example.. look at how many years they messed with the Mustang, trying to shove model after model of it down the throats of people who just desperately wanted the "old mustang" back..

finally they started making decent ones, and people are buying them.. who'd-a-thunk-it?

[ohio2007]

36. Toyota Reports Record Profits

TOKYO, Feb. 6 — Another quarter of record profits and sales released by the Toyota Motor Corporation on Tuesday painted a picture of a company whose forward momentum is pushing it into a virtuous cycle of sorts, allowing the auto company to stay on a roll, analysts said.

Toyota said that its net income rose 7.3 percent in the three months ended Dec. 31 to a record 426.8 billion yen, or $3.54 billion...
<snip>
With its roaring pace of profits, analysts say that Toyota could pour huge sums back into developing new models and technologies...
<snip>
Toyota has seized an early lead in gas-electric hybrid vehicles like its popular Prius, and is a front-runner in fuel cell vehicles,.....
<snip>


http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/07/business/06cnd-auto.html

Does Toyota have union workers getting "long in the tooth" ?

[NashVegas]

40. They Should Fire Their Entire Marketing Department

Too often, the tail is wagging the dog.

[JCMach1]

44. of course completely unrelated to their plan to buy and label Chinese cars

(Chery) as Chrysler... :shrug:

[TheWatcher]

46. This is really great news.

With the economy so robust, they will be able to spend more time with their families and things will just work out.

If the economy gets much more robust than this, none of us will ever have to worry about working again.

We can just sit behind our computers with our very own Ameritrade accounts all day and just make money by automation.

:sarcasm: