Chrysler cuts 13,000 North American jobs

The plan, dubbed by workers the “Valentine’s Day Massacre,” includes the shutdown of an assembly plant employing 2,100 workers in Newark, Delaware and a parts distribution center in Cleveland, Ohio. Thousands more will lose their jobs as entire production shifts are cancelled at truck plants in St. Louis and Warren, Michigan, and other cuts hit supplier plants in Detroit, Ontario, Canada and elsewhere.

Nine thousand hourly workers will lose their jobs in the US and another 2,000 in Canada. In addition, 2,000 salaried jobs are being eliminated in both countries.

Other cuts are expected as the effects of the downsizing—which is aimed at reducing production by 400,000 units per year—spread to in-house and outside suppliers, car dealerships, rental agencies and other businesses dependent on Chrysler. The company plans to squeeze $1.5 billion in savings from its suppliers.

The announcement follows a year of massive job-cutting by the US-based auto giants. General Motors and Ford eliminated more than 70,000 jobs in 2006, bringing the total number of jobs wiped out in the US auto and auto parts sector to more than 150,000 last year.

In announcing the cuts, Chrysler Group CEO Tom LaSorda said, “We will be doing these reductions in a very socially responsible way for our people.”

There is no “socially responsible” way to destroy thousands of jobs and inflict crushing hardship on tens of thousands of families and entire working class communities. In fact, the downsizing announced by Chrysler is the latest round in a ruthless drive to make the working class pay for the crisis of the US auto industry and the profit system as a whole. The North American Chrysler Group lost $1.5 billion last year.

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http://wsws.org/articles/2007/feb2007/chry-f15.shtml