Chrysler LLC offered buyouts for 2,500 employees at the company’s Warren, Michigan, Dodge truck assembly plant yesterday. Though Chrysler hasn’t said just how many buyouts it wants to achieve out of the offers, the automaker has cut 1,100 hourly workers at the plant since 2007 thanks to buyouts offers.
The assembly plant builds the Dodge Ram and Dakota and the Mitsubishi Raider, which is essentially a rebadged Dakota. Not surprisingly, Chrysler said the buyouts are in response to soft market demand for the large trucks.
Chrysler has invested considerably in the Warren plant in the last few years to produce the Ram, so it’s unlikely the plant will close. Production of the new 2009 Ram began last month and in one week, 150 Dodge dealers will arrive at the plant to drive a new Ram back to their dealerships in a small publicity stunt.
09/12, 5:27 PM
posted by:
yarddog82abn
You know what up-seats me, that “right now” Dodge, Ford, and Chevy are just overall putting out some of the best truck’s to date, say what you wanna say about Toy. & Niss. trucks, I’m talking about the American 3, with the price of gas it will be hard to really enjoy what is in the market, I for one need a truck and will always have one, but in the days where MPG and alternative fuel are in the minds of a hard hit economy, it will only be commercial sector of the market that will make sense to supply this product to, and that is hard to see being that TRUCKS have all ways been the poster child of the American Blue Collier Worker, the U.S. automakers are in a bad place right now, and with time they will overcome this hardship, UAW workers that do take a buyout have nothing to be ashamed about, I’m sure they under stand that if one auto company fails so will the others, it will be a domino affect, just look at the banks, THE BANKS where most of us keep our money. Overall I’m not just talking about who makes the better truck, I’m talking about the American economy, American Jobs, the America we live in today, and yes auto company have ran out to 3rd country, but they did it because of the UAW, and that is something we all know.
09/12, 5:46 PM
posted by:
beatusmongous
Well said, Yard Dog.
Trucks of today are nothing like the trucks of yesterday. The “they just don’t build them like they used to” is a statement that goes both ways. Our trucks today are nice rides, not like the bouncy things we had back in the day. And many 4WD ones still have “granny gears,” they are just switched off most of the time. Our trucks are working machines, just like they used to be, but with comforts and amenities of nice cars. And yet fuel economy issues have made people leave their trucks and buy Priuses. Not only did those people make a financial mistake (the fuel economy difference doesn’t outweigh the cost of the vehicle), but they are jumping on the bandwagon, which doesn’t support America. However, most of those people are 1) not enthusiasts and 2) probably had no use for a truck to begin with.
Also, unions are no longer a help but a hinderance. Back in the day, the unions were useful because they protected the American worker. Now, all the unions do is hurt. My wife used to work for Medco. She was really good at what she did, and she did more “queues” than anyone, but she was a non-union employee. And then she was approached one day by a union representative that told her that if she didn’t slow down, the union would find a way to get her fired from the company. The problem was that she was making the union employees look bad, because they didn’t do nearly as much as she did. I said, “Don’t let them tell you what to do. They can’t get rid of a good worker because she’s a good worker.” So she did, and she was met with hell for about 18 months. That’s not right.
It’s not about who’s right, but what’s right. And anymore, many of the union principles are just not right. They should make two-way promises, like “If you promise all workers will receive a certain healthcare, we promise that all workers will be 10% more productive.” I’m just throwing stuff out there, but the point is that the unions are pretty one-sided. And why not? Each union worker has to pay dues, so in essence, the unions are really companies…