Digging a deep grave...

Plant closings loom as Big Three slump deepens

Ford and General Motors need to close up to seven assembly plants in North America if they want production capacity to match market share, a move that would wipe out 18,000 assembly jobs alone and tens of thousands more at parts companies in the US and Canada, an analyst says. Ford needs to slash production by one million vehicles and GM by another 750,000, said Sean McAlinden, director of the economics and business group of the US-based Center for Automotive Research. The two companies combined employ more than 100,000 hourly and salaried workers at more than 50 vehicle assembly plants in Canada, the US and Mexico. A cut in capacity of that size doesn't automatically equal the shutdown of seven assembly plants, Canadian Auto Workers president Buzz Hargrove said yesterday, but he's worried nonetheless about Ford and GM. Canada is probably insulated from direct job cuts in the restructurings that both firms will announce soon, he said. “Does the health of the two companies concern me? Absolutely,” he said after digesting the news that market share for the Canadian units of Ford and GM, as well as DaimlerChrysler Canada, slipped below the 50% level in October for the first time ever. Hargrove said recent agreements the CAW reached with the Chrysler group, Ford and GM keep plants here secure, except for Ford's engine casting plant in Windsor, ON, which is scheduled to close between now and 2007. Ford told the CAW during the negotiations that four assembly plants in North America were in danger of being closed because of excess capacity, he said, with a plant in St. Thomas, ON, that makes full-sized sedans and police cars on the list. The CAW, however, secured new investment that will keep the plant open until at least 2009. McAlinden has identified the Ford plants in danger as those in St. Louis, Wixom, MI, St. Paul, MN, and Cuautitlan, Mexico. He points to several engine and transmission plants as being in danger as well. GM's cuts will be less dramatic, he said, with a minivan plant in Doraville, GA, likely to be shed and at least one more that makes mid- or full-sized sport utility vehicles.
(Globe and Mail, National Post, Toronto Star 051103)