Posted on 08/13/2005 11:19:39 AM PDT by 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.
Two decades? Now the WSJ should stop basking in the pre-Bush years. The metric is how many jobs were created since 2000 when Clinton-Bush made China a permanent favorite trading partner?
Ah, the last ditch salvage attempt at the rep is it. Save face by saying "I was being sarcastic". The Monty python
"what do you mean, Miss? I'm sorry I have a cold.." approach.
Buy a clue.
What is the net of jobs created and lost vs population growth? What is the growth (or loss) of real income in this same period?
You mean if only Daimler employees were not competing with the unfair dumping of wage rates overseas? Free trade instead of fair trade - like what Our forefathers complained about till they had to throw off a King and write us a constitution to remedy.. those communist/socialist/facist pinkos. Oh, wait, perhaps I'm not labeling them right. Best correct it.. "Those Protectionists!"
"You mean if only Daimler employees were not competing with the unfair dumping of wage rates overseas?"
No, I meant the Beach Boys never did a song about Indianapolis.
Ah, the supplanting sarcasm in hopes someone will accept it for substance approach..
Dont let the pogue warriors and remington raiders get cha down..
We got a boat load of chi com lovers heavily invested in slave labor and illegal alien labor on board all who dare call themselves 'Americans'
There is NO good side to Marxism but there is an evil side
of capitalism/materialism
Hate to see it go - this was where the first 426 Hemi blocks were cast in late 1963, and it was always fun to see it in operation when I passed by while traveling to Indy over Labor Day weekend.
IIRC Studebakers were built in South Bend. There may have been a component plant of some kind in Indianapolis, but AFAIK all the cars were assembled in South Bend.
Because you are failing?
You sure seem to spread a lot of job-loss glee on these threads. I almost think you are happy that Americans are losing jobs.
Willie, Don't expect any such postings. You walk the talk. Others just change the topic to you.
According to the Dept. of Labor, 207,000 new jobs were added in July. Click here
;^)
5.56mm
Agreeing with ya' about liking Willie's posts....drop the "serious education", it comes across snooty....
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.
doesn't look like any jobs lost to me... just people changing jobs.
Yep, that's what they say. Sure would be nice if they had put some company names and locations with those numbers, just like Willie does. [well excluding jobs packing factories for export]
Anyone with enough time to not only watch "Battlestar Galactica" episodes but write reviews of them for some geek website, obviously has more time on his hands than I do. Pardon me if I don't think Goerge Bush has hurt you any.
According to the same source, the unemployment rate stayed at 5.0% (a terrific rate in anyone's book). So if 207,000 jobs were added, a proportional amount of jobs were lost. A wash.
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