Chrysler and UAW settle buyout differences
Chrysler, the North American unit of DaimlerChrysler (Charts), has announced plans to cut 11,000 blue-collar jobs, including 9,000 jobs in the United States represented by the United Auto Workers union.
Chrysler said in a statement that employees with 30 years or more of service would be eligible for a $70,000 payment in exchange for taking early retirement.
Younger employees will be offered the payment of up to $100,000 to leave the payroll, the automaker said, adding that a letter outlining the terms of its buyout offers had been sent to employees on Tuesday.
Chrysler last week detailed its buyout offers for white-collar workers and said it planned to cut 1,000 of those positions by June.
Daimler without Chrysler may be deal target Chrysler's had announced plans earlier this month to cut a total of 13,000 jobs or about 16 percent of its work force in a bid to return to profitability by 2008.
The buyout packages negotiated by Chrysler with the UAW follow similar job cut agreements that the union struck with GM (Charts) and Ford (Charts).
Taken together, the Detroit-based automakers have cut more than 80,000 factory jobs in the past year.
In a statement, the UAW said the Chrysler buyouts were being offered at "targeted" U.S. plants beginning this month. It said that each plant would have its own schedule for workers to determine whether they would accept the offer.
Chrysler has said it plans to close a Delaware plant that makes its slow-selling Durango sport utility vehicle and reduce annual production capacity by 400,000 vehicles by eliminating shifts elsewhere.
By contrast, GM and Ford offered their UAW buyouts on a one-time basis to all of their unionized workers.
"UAW members are once again stepping forward to make hard choices," UAW President Ron Gettelfinger said in a statement. "Now it's up to DaimlerChrysler to move the company forward by using the skill and dedication of our members to deliver quality vehicles that customers want to buy."
The Chrysler buyout offers come at a time of increased uncertainty about the automaker's near-term outlook.
German-parent Daimler is beginning to consider offers for potential bidders for the U.S. automaker, which lost $1.48 billion last year as sales slumped and inventories rose.
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