Chrysler gives 13,000 the Valentine boot

AUBURN HILLS, Mich. — For 13,000 Chrysler workers, Feb. 14 will now be known as the Valentine's Day massacre.

On Wednesday, Chrysler announced its long-awaited restructuring, which included a 16 percent reduction in its work force, shift reductions, a plant closing and a surprise hint that the plan could lead to a DaimlerChrysler divorce.

The Chrysler plan calls for closing the company's Newark, Del., assembly plant and reducing shifts at plants in Warren, Mich., and St. Louis. A parts distribution center near Cleveland also will be closed, and reductions could occur at other plants that make components for those facilities.

Chrysler blamed the wrenching restructuring on poor sales after a shift in consumer taste from SUVs and trucks to more fuel-efficient vehicles. Workers blamed management.

"It's a shame that Chrysler didn't give us something better. That's not our fault," said Victor Harris, 56, who works in the paint shop at the Newark plant and has been employed there for 35 years.

Aside from the job cuts, Chrysler's German parent, DaimlerChrysler AG, said it is looking at all options to revive its fortunes, including partners for the troubled Chrysler. Its chairman wouldn't rule out a possible sale of the U.S. operation.

With Chrysler's job losses, the domestic auto industry has eliminated or proposed cutting 132,000 manufacturing jobs at 64 U.S. plants since May 2005, said Sean McAlinden, chief economist and vice president of research at the nonprofit Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor.

The devastation was partially offset by foreign brands expanding their manufacturing operations in the U.S. During that same period, foreign brands, such as Japan's Toyota Motor Corp., and their suppliers have created 30,000 to 40,000 factory jobs in the U.S. That should rise to 50,000 to 60,000 by 2009, McAlinden said.

Chrysler announced its plan at its Auburn Hills headquarters, saying it hoped the move would return its U.S. operations to profitability by next year. Like the other domestic automakers — Ford Motor Co. and General Motors Corp. — DaimlerChrysler's earnings have been hit hard by rising labor costs and slumping sales as consumers have turned to foreign models. For years, the so-called Big Three pinned their fortunes on higher-priced sport-utility vehicles and trucks, but that strategy soured when gas prices climbed to near $3 a gallon.