Company offers package to workers who will be cut at the Normal plant
September 1, 2004
NORMAL - Although layoffs are still being sorted out, a union official said Tuesday that many longtime employees at Mitsubishi Motors' only U.S. plant are certain to be out of work when the automaker slashes 1,200 jobs from the veteran-laden work force next month.
Letters were mailed to employees Tuesday outlining the pending layoffs, including pay and benefits for workers who will be trimmed in October when the struggling Japanese automaker cuts back from two shifts to one at the Normal plant, company spokesman Dan Irvin said.
Irvin declined to elaborate until workers receive the letters later this week. But a union official said the company will first seek volunteers, who might take the deal if they are near retirement or looking to change careers, then cut the remaining jobs based on seniority.
Ralph Timan, president of United Auto Workers Local 2488, said those cuts will carve into a veteran work force at the 16-year-old plant, but declined to speculate on how deep.
"We have a lot of 15- and 16-year employees. The vast majority of our membership is right there in that 15- to 16-year range," said Timan, whose union will lose more than a third of its 2,700 jobs.
Timan said the compensation package for laid-off workers is based on the union's contract and is "pretty standard" for plants represented by the UAW.
Workers with more than five years of service will receive 80 percent of their salary for 70 weeks, Timan said, while workers with less than five years will get the same rate for 52 weeks. Mitsubishi also will extend medical coverage up to 24 months, depending on length of service, he said.
Timan said workers have been on edge as they await details on the layoffs, announced more than a month ago as the Japanese automaker battles plunging sales and a $6 billion debt from bad credit and recall scandals.
"There are a lot of long faces and there's a lot of uncertainty because people don't know what to expect," Timan said.
Irvin said the process has moved slowly because collapsing two shifts into one is complex, involving varied production operations and thousands of workers.
"It's been a challenging time for everybody," Irvin said. "But I think the performance of these 3,150 people under those challenges has been tremendous."
Irvin said the company has not set a date for the move to one shift, but that workers will be given at least five days notice before the layoffs. He said the company has not yet determined how many layoffs will be union jobs and how many will be salaried positions.
Timan said the company also is looking into whether assembly and parts work that has been outsourced from the plant can be returned to preserve jobs.
Workers who are laid-off can be called back if production picks up, a prospect that Timan said has drawn a mixed reaction from employees.
"Some are optimistic we can get another product and get lines back to full speed. Others wonder how much longer Mitsubishi is going to be there as an automaker, period," Timan said.
Economic development officials are bracing for the fallout from the rare job loss in Bloomington-Normal, the state's fastest-growing downstate community in the 1990s with a historically low unemployment rate.
"We feel the economy is fairly strong and we'll be able to absorb most of the impact," said Marty Vanags, executive director of the Economic Development Council of the Bloomington-Normal Area. "But this has been a wake-up call in some sense that we can't just rely on the large employers to constantly carry the water for the community."months, depending on length of service, he said.
Timan said workers have been on edge as they await details on the layoffs, announced more than a month ago as the Japanese automaker battles plunging sales and a $6 billion debt from bad credit and recall scandals.
"There are a lot of long faces and there's a lot of uncertainty because people don't know what to expect," Timan said.
Irvin said the process has moved slowly because collapsing two shifts into one is complex, involving varied production operations and thousands of workers.
"It's been a challenging time for everybody," Irvin said. "But I think the performance of these 3,150 people under those challenges has been tremendous."
Irvin said the company has not set a date for the move to one shift, but that workers will be given at least five days notice before the layoffs. He said the company has not yet determined how many layoffs will be union jobs and how many will be salaried positions.
Timan said the company also is looking into whether assembly and parts work that has been outsourced from the plant can be returned to preserve jobs.
Workers who are laid-off can be called back if production picks up, a prospect that Timan said has drawn a mixed reaction from employees.
"Some are optimistic we can get another product and get lines back to full speed. Others wonder how much longer Mitsubishi is going to be there as an automaker, period," Timan said.
Economic development officials are bracing for the fallout from the rare job loss in Bloomington-Normal, the state's fastest-growing downstate community in the 1990s with a historically low unemployment rate.
"We feel the economy is fairly strong and we'll be able to absorb most of the impact," said Marty Vanags, executive director of the Economic Development Council of the Bloomington-Normal Area. "But this has been a wake-up call in some sense that we can't just rely on the large employers to constantly carry the water for the community."
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