FREDERICKTOWN — The recent announcement of the elimination of 2,000 jobs by Dana Corp. worldwide by the end of this year, as well as the planned closing of 10 plants which have not yet been identified, leave the future of the Dana plant in Fredericktown somewhat uncertain.
However despite some recent cutbacks in the Toledo-based company, the local plant has not yet been deeply impacted.
The latest labor cutback announcement is in addition to the 3,000 positions which were eliminated in the first 10 months of this year.
Dana Corp. spokesman Chuck Hartlage said plant meetings were held at all Dana facilities in the U.S. Friday morning, including the Fredericktown plant, to offer salaried employees voluntary buyouts.
“That could impact Fredericktown but I don’t know; it depends on whether or not people at that operation sign up for it,” Hartlage said.
“Once the voluntary separations end, then involuntary separations may be needed to bring that number up to 2,000,” he added.
Hartlage said no decisions have been finalized about which 10 plants will close in 2009 and 2010. He said corporate leadership is currently working with its union partners to discuss the best methods for consolidating some operations.
No firm timeline for the decisions has been set according to Hartlage, but the company will make sure employees know where their plant stands before providing a release to the media. “We’ll communicate to employees first, and then make an announcement.”
Hartlage said while he couldn’t estimate the chances the Fredericktown plant would be one of the ones closed, he could comment on the plant’s role in North American operations. “Fredericktown is our only Dana plant in North America dedicated to the leisure utility market,” he explained. “We plan to remain in that market.”
According to the figures provided by Hartlage on Tuesday, there has actually been in an increase in the number of employees this year at the Fredericktown plant, from 100 in January to 135 in October. He said this was “absolutely a positive indicator” that the Fredericktown plant was doing well.
Hartlage said there are two reasons for the staffing increase in Fredericktown. “Business in general has done well there because they produce for two key customers — John Deere and Polaris,” he explained. “We’ve moved quite a bit of production around in the past few years so they added the production of a tractor axle there as well.”
Dana announced third quarter losses of $271 million earlier this month. Stock prices have declined sharply in the past week, including a Tuesday closing price of only 71 cents.
Hartlage said the plant closings and layoffs are due to the struggling economy. “Earnings are down; production is down. Plant closures and job elminations will resize Dana to the current projected demand,” he said, adding it is doubtful the industry will rebound soon.
Terms of the buyout offered employees depend on their length of service with the company.
Fredericktown Mayor Roger Reed said the Dana plant and its employees are a valued part of the Fredericktown community, and the tax revenue lost to a possible plant closing would hurt the village. His primary concern however, is the families which would be deeply affected by job loss.
“People’s lives would be changed if they actually close the plant down,” Reed said Tuesday. “It would be devastating to the families.”
The mayor said the fire which destroyed the old Dana plant in 1998 demonstrated the important presence the company has in the community. “We’ve experienced it first-hand what it’s like to not have Dana for the year or two following the fire,” Reed said of the time before the current plant was built.
“Any time you have a deduction in your revenue and income tax you feel that impact,” he said.
Reed said he is hopeful a closing will not happen because the plant has done well in the community. “There’s been a lot of talk in the recent past and rumors about them even expanding.”
“I have hopes that it’s not in our area where the hit will be,” Reed said. “No matter where it is, it will hurt people’s lives. That’s a tragedy.”
