Chrysler accelerates layoffs, 1825 people to lose their jobs

by Tina Kells | October 23, 2008 at 03:35 pm

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The struggling auto industry is just the latest to announce layoffs in response to the failing US economy. Chrysler LLC has announced that it will cut 1825 jobs by closing two plants in the United States.

Chrysler will shut down plants in Toldeo and Delaware; both plants produce SUVs. Chrysler has stated that the current financial crisis, coupled with dwindling sales for gas guzzling SUVs, caused the layoffs.

About 825 workers at the Toledo North Assembly Plant will be laid off indefinitely as of Dec. 31. The Newark closure also will be effective at the end of the year and affect about 1,000 jobs, the company said Thursday in a news release.

The cuts are about 6 percent of Chrysler's U.S. hourly work force of 33,000.

The Toledo factory makes the Dodge Nitro and Jeep Liberty. Both have been selling slowly this year due to high gas prices and a slowing U.S. economy.

The Newark plant makes the slow-selling Dodge Durango and Chrysler Aspen sport utility vehicles. It originally was expected to close at the end of 2009.

Auburn Hills, Mich.-based Chrysler said in a statement that the changes will adjust inventory to better match consumer demand. Through the first nine months of the year, the company's U.S. sales have fallen 25 percent from the same period last year, the largest decline of any major automaker.

"The markets are facing unprecedented turmoil and we are in a time of historic change in the auto industry," said, Frank Ewasyshyn, Chrysler's executive vice president of manufacturing. "These tough, but necessary steps are vital to our long-term viability."

The privately held company said it would work with the United Auto Workers union to handle the layoffs in a "socially responsible manner."