PRESS RELEASE
Federal Protection of `Excess' Auto Capacity
To Save and Retool for Infrastructure Mission
May 1, 2006 (EIRNS)—Lyndon LaRouche met on April 27 with 50 representatives of auto and other union locals, state and local elected representatives, who had attended his webcast address that day. On the issue of the crisis of auto production and employment collapse:
"We have an immediate mission to get Congress to act, between the LaRouche Political Action Committee, EIR intelligence staff, and all of you people who represent various aspects of the auto sector.
"Here's how this thing is going to work. You've got somewhere in the range of 35-40% capacity utilization, among the Big Three auto companies. We know it most concretely in the case of General Motors, that it's about a 35% utilization, in order to actually produce their market share of cars and trucks and SUVs and all of this. And if they fire the management, and bring in a revolutionary new team, and they design a new supercar of the future, maybe it'll increase by 5% or so over the next few years. Because 25% of U.S. car and truck sales is still pretty big. So, that section of these auto companies, we're going to hive off, and they're going to continue to operate the way they're operated.
"But we're going to take the unused capacity, and we're going to put it under receivership of some kind of temporary government agency, and we're going to take that idle plant capacity, the laid-off workers, and we're going to give them specific, vital assignments in this rebuilding of the country's infrastructure. So we're going to actually put those elements of the auto sector that are right now either unused, or underutilized, and we're going to put them into federal government receivership reorganization, until they're back on their feet.
"And we're going to hire workers back, and we're going to emit Federal credit, which is the one thing that's absolutely unique about our Constitutional system; that were a credit system, not a money system."a
54 `Excess' Auto Plants for Operation by a
Federal Infrastructure Corporation
They include 15 assembly plants, five power-train and drive-train supply plants, five electronics-systems plants, nine energy/chassis plants, seven interior/exterior supply plants, two glass parts supply plants, two engine production plants, and nine other plants.
A. Visteon Plants for Sale (by Ford Automotive Components Holdings LLC, which took ownership in 2005 for sell-or-shut purposes)
1. Indianapolis steering components 2,100 workers (1,800 production workers)
2. Monroe, Michigan chassis 1,550 workers (1,330 production workers)
3. Ypsilanti, Michigan chassis 900 workers (770 production workers)
4. Kansas City lamp assembly 110 workers (95 production workers)
5. Milan, Michigan power train 1,050 workers (900 production workers)
6. Saline, Michigan interiors 1,850 workers (1,585 production workers)
7. Plymouth, Michigan climate control 1,450 workers (1,245 production workers)
8. Chesterfield Township, Michigan seats 180 workers (155 production workers)
9., 10. Shelby Township, Michigan interiors/exteriors 1,630 workers (1,425 production workers)
11. Sandusky, Ohio lighting 1,500 workers (1,285 production workers)
12. Tulsa, Oklahoma glass 700 workers (600 production workers)
13. Nashville glass 850 workers (730 production workers)
B. Delphi plants being closed or sold by current management according to its so-called bankruptcy reorganization plan.
1. Cottondale/Tuscaloosa, Alabama thermal and interior 265 workers (225 production workers), 200,000 square feet production floors
2. Gadsden, Alabama thermal and interior 222 workers (185 production workers 300,000 square feet production floors
3. Adrian, Michigan thermal and interior 453 workers (387 production workers) 300,000 square feet
4. Columbus, Ohio thermal and interior 843 workers (737 production workers) 1.4 million square feet
5. Irvine, California electronic systems 93 workers (89 production workers) 200,000 square feet)
6. Brookhaven, Mississippi electronic 523 workers (479 production workers) 200,000 square feet
7. Kettering, Ohio electronic 1,241 workers (,1094 production workers) 2.6 million square feet
8. Vandalia, Ohio electronic 644 workers (640 production workers) 700,000 square feet
9. Moraine, Ohio electronic 1,258 workers (1.145 production workers) 300,000 square feet
10. Grand Rapids, Michigan energy and chassis 653 workers (543 production workers) 1.8 million square feet
11. Coopersville, Michigan energy and chassis 670 workers (575 production workers) 300,000 square feet
12. Saginaw, Michigan energy and chassis 1,200 workers (1,015 production workers) 700,000 square feet
13. Wichita Falls, Texas energy and chassis 228 workers (198 production workers) 500,000 square feet
14. Sandusky, Ohio energy and chassis 1,142 workers (930 production workers) 1.3 million square feet
15. Milwaukee energy and chassis 555 workers (485 production workers) 500,000 square feet
16. Flint East, Michigan energy and chassis 2,430 workers (2,175 production workers) 1.1 million square feet
17. Flint East, Michigan drive-train 733 workers (649 production workers)
18. Saginaw, Michigan steering systems 4,975 workers (3,780 production workers) 1 million square feet
19. Anderson, Indiana plant 880 workers (790 production workers) 500,000 square feet
20. New Brunswick, New Jersey plant 312 workers (283 production workers) 200,000 square feet
21. Tulsa, Oklahoma plant 124 workers (118 production workers)
C. Ford Plants (known so far by announcements of management) for closure this year or next; in one case, in 2008.
1. Atlanta assembly 2,252 workers (1,980 production workers)
2. Wixom, Michigan assembly 1,840 workers (1,660 production workers)
3. St. Paul assembly 1,965 workers (1,805 production workers)
4. St. Louis/Hazelwood assembly 1,730 workers (1,590 production workers)
5. Norfolk, Virginia assembly 2,400 workers
6. Windsor, Ontario engine production 2,200 workers
D. GM Plants (known so far by announcements of management) for closure this year or next; in a few cases, in 2008.
1. Moraine, Ohio assembly 4,200 workers (3,800 production workers) 4.1 million square feet
2. Spring Hill, Tennessee assembly 5,800 workers (5,060 production workers) 5.2 million square feet
3. Lansing/Delta Township, Michigan assembly 150 workers (130 production workers)
4. Lansing/Grand River, Michigan assembly 1,500 workers (1,300 production workers) 2 million square feet
5. Doraville, Georgia assembly 3,000 workers (2,800 production workers) 3.6 million square feet
6. Oklahoma City assembly 2,735 workers (2,535 production workers) 3.9 million square feet
7. Linden, New Jersey assembly 1,750 workers (1,650 production workers) 2.6 million square feet
8. Oshawa, Ontario 1 assembly 1,000 workers
9. Oshawa, Ontario 2 assembly 2,300 workers
10. Flint North, Michigan power-train 2,620 workers (2,250 production workers)
11. Saginaw, Michigan power-train 330 workers (290 production workers) 300,000 square feet
12. St. Catherines, Ontario power-train 300 workers
13. Lansing, Michigan metal center 1,680 workers (1,510 production workers) 1.7 million square feet
14. Muncie, Indiana transmission 385 workers
