Slow auto sales are taking their toll on another Toledo area auto factory, with 230 hourly workers to be laid off indefinitely Friday at Chrysler LLC's Toledo Machining Plant in Perrysburg Township.
Layoff notices were to be delivered by today to some of those affected, said Lee Bainter, president of United Auto Workers Local 1435 at the plant. The union represents about 1,370 hourly employees at the factory which makes torque converters and steering columns.
Michelle Tinson, a Chrysler spokesman, said the cuts are part of broader company reductions at five factories, including at the Toledo Jeep Assembly complex.
The suburban machining factory makes components for many of those plants.
"These layoffs are a result of those volume-related actions announced in November," Ms. Tinson said.
Chrysler's Nov. 1 decision included cutting 8,500 to 10,000 factory jobs and 1,000 salaried positions. The third shift at Toledo Jeep was canceled, eliminating the jobs of 750 workers who make the Jeep Liberty and Dodge.In Perrysburg Township, the union leader said, "At the plant level, we're working to minimize it. Obviously, we supply to most of the plants in the corporation, so it follows that when they have [slowdowns], we would, too."
The 1.2 million-square-foot factory, opened in 1966, had been slated to close before Chrysler changed its mind and assigned it new work during bargaining with the UAW last year. What that work will be remains uncertain.
A UAW spokesman said some job losses at the suburban plant could be minimized when buyout packages are offered at the plant, perhaps beginning this month.
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