Indianapolis foundry to close Sept. 30, eliminating 881 jobs

The Centre Daily Times ^ | Fri, Aug. 12, 2005 | KEN KUSMER - Associated Press

[Willie Green]

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use.

INDIANAPOLIS - DaimlerChrysler AG will close its Indianapolis foundry and eliminate 881 jobs by Sept. 30, reducing the automaker's once formidable Indiana manufacturing presence to just the city of Kokomo.

DaimlerChrysler recently notified the Indiana Department of Workforce Development of the closure under the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification, or WARN, Act. The law requires employers to give 60 days notice before certain plant closings and layoffs. The loss of 881 jobs is the largest in Indiana under WARN this year.

A provision in the four-year labor agreement struck by the automaker and the United Auto Workers in 2003 called for the foundry to close by the end of the third quarter of 2005, company spokeswoman Curtrise Garner said Friday.

"The company and union jointly agreed to that," she said by telephone from DaimlerChrysler's U.S. headquarters in Auburn Hills, Mich.

News reports at the time of the labor agreement said DaimlerChrysler would phase out the foundry over four years. The plant along Interstate 70 west of downtown Indianapolis produces V-6 and V-8 engine blocks.

UAW Local 550 represents workers at the foundry. Local President James Clark had little to say about the closure when asked for comment Friday. The affected workers, most of whom now live in Indianapolis, have been offered jobs at a variety of other DaimlerChrysler plants, he said.

Workers who choose to transfer to another DaimlerChrysler plant instead of retiring receive 95 percent of their base pay after taxes until a new job is found for them, Garner said.

Department of Workforce Development agency officials will meet with DaimlerChrysler representatives next Thursday to discuss state job assistance to the affected workers, agency spokesman Kip Chase said.

The plant was owned by American Foundry Co. until Chrysler bought it in 1946. The automaker invested in major upgrades there in 1964, 1978, 1988, and the late 1990s.

The closing will diminish DaimlerChrysler's presence in Indiana to Kokomo, where three transmission plants and an aluminum casting plant employ about 7,500 workers. The automaker spun off its 1,400-worker New Castle machine shop to a joint venture three year ago, ending a 96-year history in the eastern Indiana city where the high school still bears the Chrysler name.

The notice to the state of 881 jobs being lost topped Indiana's largest previous WARN job loss this year, for 613 jobs eliminated with the June closure of Tower Automotive's auto frame assembly plant in Corydon.

[DeeOhGee]

Rising production costs can be due to several things, but some of the more obvious culprits are unions and prohibitive federal regulations - EPA, OSHA, EEO, etc. I don't know what the feds can legally do about unions (is Indiana a right-to-work state?), but they CAN roll back some of the regs.

[Gabz]

Or possibility that demand is lower than production?

[Ciexyz]

Where is the work going? Where is this work now going to be performed? At an American factory, or abroad?

[DeeOhGee]

Actually I care very little about jobs. My biggest concern with "free trade" agreements has to with the ability of the US to meet her manufacturing needs..employment is simply a by-product of that capacity.

I am terrified by the prospect of a war with, say, North Korea (not a far-fetched possibility), where China suddenly decides to quit shipping us steel and electronics to fight their allies, and South Korea and Japan, not wanting to get in the middle of two sumo wrestlers, decide the same thing.

Sure, we could re-energize our manufacturing capabilities, but that takes time and money, and how many soldiers would we lose before we are back up to producing all we need.

To me, it's a matter of national security.

[Havoc]

I don't put all the blame on Bush, I just give him his share of it. The lobbyists aren't the problem. And that argument won't work. Sorry. That's like blaming the gun for the crime instead of the wielder of it. Any politician up there can have the moral fortitude and strength of character to refuse bribes and represent US. When they do not stand up, that is their fault. It cannot in any way be laid off upon the lobbyists. The lobbyists don't make the decisions for the politicians. They may make offers; but, the politician can always say "no." Bush bears blame right along with every other politician up there that voted for all this crap. And any of you that sided with them bears equal blame for not standing up for America instead of your own greedy self interests. If you couldn't tell, I'm not much one for sugar coating or pulling punches. Nor do I allow people to play semantics games as a copout or to minimize.

[Ciexyz]

Any word on where they'll source the engine blocks now?

That, my friend, is the bottom line. We can't assume that the work will go to another Daimler-Chrysler factory IN THE USA.

As the owner of a Daimler-Chrysler auto, I'd like to know.

[atlanta67]

""Or possibility that demand is lower than production?""

that is exactly the same as saying productivity is rising faster than demand...and that has nothing to do with NAFTA.....it isnt as though this country started losing manufacturing jobs in 1993. The peak was back in 1978 at 20m manufacturing jobs.

In each business cycle sine 1978, the peak of employment has been lower than in the previous business cycle and the trough lower than the previous trough. This was going on 15 years before NAFTA and is going on in countries such as Janpan and S Korea today.


Manufacturing is like agriculture. In 20 years there will be no more than 5m manufacturing jobs in the USA, down from 14m today. Yet our output will be higher in 20 years than it is today

[Havoc]

Uh, actually, a guy concerned with justice does care a great deal about assigning blame where blame belongs. But, nice try at a broad generalization that didn't serve you.

[Gabz]

Rising production costs can be due to several things, but some of the more obvious culprits are unions and prohibitive federal regulations - EPA, OSHA, EEO, etc.

BINGO on the regulations...most especially the EPA and OSHA ones.

[atlanta67]

while Reagan did impose quotas on Japanese bikes and cars, he wanst oppossed to free trade

[Ciexyz]

Reading all comments with interest.

[RightWhale]

you are out of touch

Conservatives tend to take a pessimistic view when it comes to national defense. This is not to be viewed from the view of commerce. In purely commercial terms you are up to date. In military terms you are way out on the limb.

[investigateworld]

RE: "To me, it's a matter of national security"

That has to be the bottom line. All the John Locke and Ayn Rand readings in the world won't mean squat if we are hampered by lack of military equipment. I for one am grateful that the *Free Trade* crowd wasn't in charge in 1941. Their greed would have had us outsourcing to German and Japan in a heartbeat. (And if they are honest, they won't deny it)

[Nowhere Man]

I don't put all the blame on Bush, I just give him his share of it. The lobbyists aren't the problem. And that argument won't work. Sorry. That's like blaming the gun for the crime instead of the wielder of it. Any politician up there can have the moral fortitude and strength of character to refuse bribes and represent US. When they do not stand up, that is their fault. It cannot in any way be laid off upon the lobbyists. The lobbyists don't make the decisions for the politicians. They may make offers; but, the politician can always say "no." Bush bears blame right along with every other politician up there that voted for all this crap. And any of you that sided with them bears equal blame for not standing up for America instead of your own greedy self interests. If you couldn't tell, I'm not much one for sugar coating or pulling punches. Nor do I allow people to play semantics games as a copout or to minimize.

Yeah, you do have a strong point there, the politicians can always tell the lobbyists to go take a hike. I know I would. I would vote my conscience on what is good for America in the long term, not for the short term gain. Yeah, myself, I like to tell it like it is. Sure, if you are up there out of the trenches, you can say everything is OK, but for us grunts down here on the front line, it is not always the case. I know myself, I do see a lot of Clintonian semantic shifting rhetoric coming from the Republican side on this issue, I do remember they came down on him for that tactic, and rightly so, but when they do it, their word is gospel. There are many, many Democrats who drink the Kool-Aid, but many Republicans drink their own flavor of it too.

BTW, noticed you are into radio too, I like to collect and work on old radios and would like to tackle my 1970 Zenith color TV (made in USA, 23 inch screen, the biggest at the time) and use it again. There is a site on the web, Reel Radio that has old radio clips on it. I'm listening to an old clip from September 1st, 1967 from Chicago's WCFL ("The Voice of Labor," it was owned by the CFL at the time), it was one of Chicago's top rockers at the time. I was only a year old at that time, but if I was older, I would most likely be trying to pull it in at night with a transistor radio under my pillow. B-)

Getting back on topic, pinging the usual crowd.

[atlanta67]

""'I for one am grateful that the *Free Trade* crowd wasn't in charge in 1941. ""


actually you should go check your history becasue they were. Sec of State Cordell Hull was an avid advocate for free trade and FDR's administration held the belief that trade protectionism made world war more not less likely.....sigh

[1rudeboy]

Nonsense. Adam Smith, Milton Friedman, and most (I imagine) other "champions" of free-trade make an exception for national security. You are begging the question.

[Nowhere Man]

That has to be the bottom line. All the John Locke and Ayn Rand readings in the world won't mean squat if we are hampered by lack of military equipment. I for one am grateful that the *Free Trade* crowd wasn't in charge in 1941. Their greed would have had us outsourcing to German and Japan in a heartbeat. (And if they are honest, they won't deny it)

Yeah, that is the true bottom reason. I remember my grandmother even made this point back in the 1970's when this first started on asking the questions, "where the planes and tanks will be made if we ever need them."

I mean if we get caught in a bind, I think I know where I could score an F-102 or two, maybe an F-84 (display models) and if you are nice to me, a couple of Vietnam War era Cobra gunships (currently serving the Penna Nat'l Guard) and perhaps a T-95 1950's era prototype tank (display) and some World War II stuff (tank museum near Youngstown, OH). B-P Worse comes to worst, we can always fight back with the Zell Miller Mark IA Spitball Launchers and if we are backed in the corner, drop Ayn Rand books on the bad guys, those things are so thick, you could maim or even kill with them. /sarcasm>

Seriously, if the free trade folks were around in 1941, we would seriously be hampered in World War II to the point to where we could have ended up with a cold war with Germany while it took us time to build up along with the UK possibly being a German vassal.

[atlanta67]

"""Seriously, if the free trade folks were around in 1941, we would seriously be hampered in World War II to the point to where we could have ended up with a cold war with Germany while it took us time to build up along with the UK possibly being a German vassal.""


you need to read my post above, the free trade folks were around in 1941

[atlanta67]

it is also interesting that, according to FReepers, the only country in the world that never benefits from free trade is the USA.

[investigateworld]

Fair enough, but we still had the capacities to become the *Arsenal of Democracy*. And I kind of think Americans were a bit more concerned about the welfare of one another. I've seen old posters; "Buy a car, give a guy a job".
The state I live in is always in the top five for unemployment. There are numerous state and federal programs for retraining workers who lost jobs to imports.
But none of the "Trainers" will guarantee a job, unless you chose truck driving or bar tending. Great eh?