Even as Chrysler LLC continues to assemble a viability plan designed to win it upwards of $5 billion in additional bailout funds, the company continues to look elsewhere for assistance and capital needed to help it restructure its business.
Chrysler CEO Bob Nardelli, appearing on CNBC Tuesday, said the automaker's finance arm
will request an undisclosed amount of assistance from the U.S. Treasury to help stimulate auto lending. Nardelli said the company has seen benefits from a $1.5 billion loan the Treasury granted to Chrysler Financial last month, and "we have gone back to Treasury and said 'we need to re-up that amount.' "
The automaker is also talking tough with Canadian workers, and according to The Canadian Press
has formulated plans to pull operations out of the country if an agreement can not be reached with the Canadian Auto Workers by the end of the month. Chrysler Canada, which employs about 10,000 in Ontario, is seeking to cut hourly wages and benefits by about $20 per hour in order to be competitive with foreign rivals including Toyota Motor Corp.
Tony Faria, co-director of the automotive research center at the University of Windsor, told the Canadian Press the automaker might be able to transfer minivan production to a recently mothballed plant in St. Louis and move other Canadian manufacturing to Michigan and Mexico. But Faria added doing so would be costly for Chrysler and could lead to a sales boycott in the country.
Chrysler has a long history in Canada and seems unlikely to pull out completely, but factoring in generous benefits the company's Canadian workers are more costly than their U.S. counterparts. The automaker appears hopeful of moving to a two-tier wage structure similar to what it has established in the U.S., and to find ways to cut the costs of retiree benefits as well as fringe benefits to existing workers. -
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