Auto workers need an international strategy

Last Thursday, Peugeot announced plans to cut 2,700 jobs in addition to the 6,000 jobs the French-based automaker slated for elimination last July. And Daimler AG is said to be considering the introduction of a 30-hour work week at its 14 German plants, as well as putting its 150,000 German employees on a month-long Christmas “holiday.”

Industry analysts in the Czech Republic, which in recent years has become known as the “Detroit of the east,” say that more than 10,000 of the country’s 120,000 auto manufacturing jobs could be eliminated in the coming months.

Mazda, Isuzu, and Nissan have announced plans to eliminate the jobs of 3,200 contract employees at their Japanese operations and Toyota, which cut 2,000 temporary jobs earlier this year, has said it will eliminate an additional 3,800 contract positions by March 2009.

In Thailand, the world’s tenth largest auto exporter, a top auto union official has said that production cuts could result in 30 to 40 percent of the industry’s 500,000 workers losing their jobs.

Production cuts and layoffs have also begun in China, the world’s second largest auto producer. Chery Automobile eliminated 6,000 jobs, or more than 30 percent of its work force this October. Toyota has suspended production at its facility in Guangzhou and Dongfeng-Peugeot Citroen has cut almost a thousand jobs.

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