Chrysler succeeds in cutting salaried headcount by 25%

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AUBURN HILLS, Mich. — For the last month, many of the conversations at Chrysler’s headquarters campus began with a simple but emotionally charged question: “Are you staying or going?”

The historic downsizing of the Detroit automakers has already eliminated more than 100,000 factory jobs over the last three years. But at Chrysler, the day before Thanksgiving was the moment of reckoning for endangered members of its white-collar work force.

Like General Motors and the Ford Motor Company, Chrysler is cutting deep into its white-collar ranks by offering buyouts or early retirement deals to managers, engineers, financial analysts and secretaries. The company is committed to reducing its salaried staff by 25 percent, or about 5,000 employees, by the end of the year.

On Wednesday, employees filed out of the headquarters complex either with a buyout in hand on what was their last day on the job — or on their way to a holiday weekend fraught with uncertainty about Chrysler’s future.

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Though some workers have until Sunday to change their minds, it appears that Chrysler more or less reached its goal of persuading 5,000 white-collar workers to leave by Wednesday’s deadline. That amounts to roughly a quarter of a salaried and contract work force that has already been decimated by several years of deep cuts, including 1,000 jobs in September.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/29/business/29chrysler.html