Chrysler shuts down all production plants

[Rilence]

Chrysler shuts down all production

Close of business Friday will be the start of a month-long closure of 30 U.S. plants. Company cites 'continued lack of consumer credit.'



NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Chrysler LLC announced late Thursday that is stopping all vehicle production in the United States for at least a month.
All 30 of the carmaker's plants will close after the last shift on Friday, and employees will not be asked to return to work before Jan. 19.
Chrysler blamed the "continued lack of consumer credit for the American car buyer" for the slow-down in sales that forced the move.
Chrysler ordinarily shuts down operations between Dec. 24 and Jan. 5 for the holidays. This closure would add roughly two weeks to that shut-down.
Chrysler would not say how many fewer vehicles would be produced during this shut-down.
"Chrysler dealers confirmed to the company at a recent meeting at its headquarters, that they have many willing buyers for Chrysler, Jeep and Dodge vehicles but are unable to close the deals, due to lack of financing," the carmaker said in an announcement. "The dealers have stated that they have lost an estimated 20% to 25% of their volume because of this credit situation."
Auto sales have been hit hard by tight credit and the struggling economy. Overall auto sales in the United States were down 37% last month compared to November 2007.
Chrysler's situation was especially bad. Its sales were down 47%.
Chrysler's financing arm, Chrysler Financial, has tightened lending terms for buyers and, earlier this year, announced it would no longer offer leases.
Chrysler, Ford Motor Co. (F (http://money.cnn.com/quote/quote.html?symb=F&source=story_quote_link), Fortune 500 (http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune500/2008/snapshots/160.html?source=story_f500_link)) and General Motors (GM (http://money.cnn.com/quote/quote.html?symb=GM&source=story_quote_link), Fortune 500 (http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune500/2008/snapshots/175.html?source=story_f500_link)) have approached Congress for aid to help them get through the current financial crisis.
A congressional effort to establish a stopgap, $14 billion loan program to help Chrysler and General Motors at least until next month collapsed last week.
The Bush administration has said it is working on a plan to throw the companies, which have said they are running out of the cash they need to operate, a lifeline using money from the $700 billion bailout approved by Congress in October, the Troubled Asset Relief Program or TARP.

http://money.cnn.com/2008/12/17/autos/chrysler_shutdown/index.htm?postversion=2008121717 Discuss.....

[Carib]

Merry Christmas

[szr]

Pool's Closed.

[Migman]

CNN says that UAW members will still get payed during this lull in production. How does that work?

[pascalywood]

Some agreement with the union? If they have one

[2Sheds_Jackson]

IMO agreements like that are why they need help in the first place. Where I'm from if you don't work you don't get paid. In fact, I'm off work for the next two weeks...and whaddya know, I don't get paid.

[LineDoggie]

More time for Golfing at the UAW's Money pit Golf Course:

http://www.michigangolfmagazine.com/reviews/black-lake.html

Winter rules in effect....

[Michigun]

The media always trying to make things sound far more serious than they really are. Yes they are getting shut down for an extra 2 weeks but thats normal this time of year in the car industry it gets really slow. They will still get paid along with people who are non union also its called unemployment and it helps people keep food on the table for there family and kids. If you have a problem with that then i dont know what to tell you besides sticking my hand out with one of the fingers remaining up. what do you want people to do not eat and just go curl up and die somewhere? Or let me guess go and try to find a job in the next 2 weeks somehow then once they get the job they are going to have to quit when there normal job is ready to bring them back.

[sinophile]

most recessions are inventory recessions. this one is no different.

manufacturers are going to have to work through excess inventory and shutter overcapacity before there is a recovery.

since the consensus seems to be the recession won't last beyond 2009, and since the Fed has pushed the prime lending rate to 3.25% most businesses with a decent balance sheet are going to hold on to some or all of their overcapacity and some or all inventory, paying a 3.25% premium to do so.

most anticipate re-inflation and that's going to delay the recovery.

unlike the financial industry, the manufacturing, technology and service sectors are more slowly purging themselves of surplus assets hoping to time the recovery.

if they time it right they'll look like geniuses. if they get it wrong asset deflation is going to be even worse middle of next year.

bottom line IMHO, scarcity fuels demand and growth - and at the moment there is a scarcity of scarcity. An artificially low fed funds rate just worsens the problem.

[Minjin]

I heard on the radio that it is largely due to the ridiculous retirement packages they offer employees who work there up until retiring. Luducrous.

[MichaelF]

Hello robotic assembly line....

[Macs.]

IMO agreements like that are why they need help in the first place. Where I'm from if you don't work you don't get paid. In fact, I'm off work for the next two weeks...and whaddya know, I don't get paid.

Mercedes only has a 4-days work weeks in January, with 90% of the full of salary. p-)

[Violet Fashion by Mindy]

IMO agreements like that are why they need help in the first place. Where I'm from if you don't work you don't get paid. In fact, I'm off work for the next two weeks...and whaddya know, I don't get paid.

Don't blame the workers and or the unions. They never said "We will keep paying workers even if they are not working"

The company still had to sign off on it. If they didn't like it they didn't have to sign and could have possibly come to another arangement. It's part of a process called negotiation.

[m.i.t]

l hope GM and Ford wont follow chrysler atleast before christmas ....

[CMNot]

Big deal, same **** is happening all over the world in a variety of industrial sectors.

We have brickworks here that have extended xmas maintenance downtime from 2 to 4 weeks. Vauxhall are offering staff 9 months off on 30% wages with the option to work elsewhere. Quarries are mothballing machinery, more extended maintenance wondows.

[Bia]

CNN says that UAW members will still get payed during this lull in production. How does that work?
And there lies part of the problem.

Americans above slave labor working class are spoiled tards.
I know MANY.... MANY people that get alloted "sick days" and when they are unused and about to roll over... they are encourage to go ahead and use them up.
Getting paid for not showing up.... is an American way of life.... and it's stupid.

[hell]

Don't blame the workers and or the unions. They never said "We will keep paying workers even if they are not working"

The company still had to sign off on it. If they didn't like it they didn't have to sign and could have possibly come to another arangement. It's part of a process called negotiation.

Oh come off of it already. I know you're not an American, but you have to have read at least some of the story behind the UAW and the Big 3. They sure as hell did say they wanted a contract clause stating something like 95% pay even when a factory is idle.

And you can bet your *** that they had to sign it. It was either sign the contract or endure a strike, which could potentially kill the company if it lasted long enough. Things may be different with union strikes in AU, but if you cross a picket line of the UAW in America, you may as well turn around, go and set your house on fire, and shoot yourself at 3AM.

All the blame doesn't lie on the Union's shoulders, but trying to use Socialist rallying cries regarding an organization that goes against the very purpose of a union is similar to the Chinese government still claiming to be Communist.

[Parx400]

CNN says that UAW members will still get payed during this lull in production. How does that work?

When you kiss the ring of the Democratic party you get job security that everyone has to pay for.

[Michigun]

This has been happening almost every year since the 20's, around this time of the year auto industry gets really slow and people get laid off for 2 weeks or more at a time. This has been going on since many of the people here were born and your life was fine up until the point you read an article online now you act like people are coming to your door and taking money from under your mattres. That article is also wrond seeing as most of the UAW workers will not get 95% of there pay its more like 60-80 just like going on unemployment.

[hell]

I think you're off on several angles. People don't get laid off for 2 weeks. Being laid off means getting fired, not staying home for a couple of weeks and having a job to go back to.

And people aren't coming to my door and swiping money from my mattress, my government is doing it for them, without consulting me whatsoever.

I'm not a UAW worker, so I'll just have to take the article at it's word and hope the editors did their job. 95% or 60-80% of ~$40/hour is pretty good money, it's actually more than many Americans get when they bother to show up and do actual work. Besides, this is idling a plant, not firing a workforce. They get paid a good deal of money to do nothing, and have a job to go back to. People filing for unemployment don't have that assurance.

[Michigun]

^ you have absolutely know idea what your talking about and i can see you get all your info from the news. Do you honestly think every UAW worker gets 70 an hour because i can sure a **** tell you thats not the truth its more like 15-30 an hour. I can go down the street and ask some of my neighbors or uncles if you want. Or i could go to the UAW building and see what they say on an application its only a 5 minute drive. Being laid off does not mean getting fired it can happen anywhere from 1 day a week to permanently you should look it up. Ive worked for supply company for the big 3 and jap companies and i was always being laid off for weeks or months at a time. So please stop talking unless you want to keep sounding dumb if so then be my guest.

[redhawk_six]

And there lies part of the problem.

Americans above slave labor working class are spoiled tards.
I know MANY.... MANY people that get alloted "sick days" and when they are unused and about to roll over... they are encourage to go ahead and use them up.
Getting paid for not showing up.... is an American way of life.... and it's stupid.

Amen. Vacation pay is one thing. But getting paid most of your normal $30 an hour salary to sit a home and do **** all for weeks on end while the company you work for is going bankrupt is bull.

I'm so sick of unions. I'm sick of all this bs of private mis-managed companies being propped up on the tax payers dime.

I'm sitting here, trying to survive off the barely 800 a month i get from EI, hoping that I'll have a job come the new year all thanks to greedy ass unions. So I'm sorry some poor UAW works have to 'try' and get by on 60-80% of their $30 an hour wages over the holidays. And I'm sorry they have to wait for the government to hand their mis-managing fools of employers billions of dollars out of the pockets of harding working people before they can go back to earning 100% of their $30 an hour wages. Right now though, they can kiss my ass.

[Romulus]

its more like 15-30 an hour.

I'd say you are right. If you count the bennies it averages about 30-38 per hour.

That doesn't mean its not total bulls**t that they get paid for not working. Maybe the UAW can use the Union Dues every worker "has" to pay to pay these folks when work slows.....Where do those fees go anyway?

Just saying.

[dfk]

http://img178.imageshack.us/img178/1418/att09760wk8.jpg

Simple and plain.

[gustav]

Why do people complain about the unions? If Chrysler is in a bind its because of its crappy management. Autoworkers in France and Germany have the same advantages than their American counterparts and they are not bankrupt like Crysler and the two others.

[Michigun]

They arent doing to well though, all except a few car companies sales are down by alot right now its just that the big 3 were in a bad spot before this mess came to boot and they are suffering the most after it.

[BlackFlag]

I worked at Chrysler's Sterling Heights Assembly Plant as an auto handler (non union) for about a year. I agree that a lot of UAW workers are spoiled, under worked and over paid. I'd work my ass off rain, snow or shine for 12 hours a day, sometimes going more than a week with out a day off, where some UAW guys on the Shipping Line made about $28 an hour for putting a Cert in the door jam. However, without a Union, management would make everyone under supervisor a wage slave

It's a f*cked up game, Management always wants to f*ck the Union, and the Union always wants to f*ck Management. There is almost no middle ground. I believe there should be a Union, but it needs to be regulated. ****, I've gotten into cars after lunch break and the thing would reek of marijuana. Even if they fire these guys, the Union gets their job back within a month.