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Magna Sticks the final few dagger blows...
http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2009/1...

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New York
Breaking News, Business News, DeWitt, Top News »
New Process Gear expects job cuts in January as DeWitt plant shuts down
By Charley Hannagan / The Post-Standard
November 10, 2009, 8:40AM

020409NPG1mjg.JPGMike Greenlar / The Post-StandardNew Process Gear plans to lay off about 125 workers in January.DeWitt, NY -- New Process Gear is expected to lay off about 125 workers in January as the plant begins shutting down.

One of the plant’s two lines that makes parts for General Motors Co. trucks has already moved to Mexico, said Scott Stanton, president of United Auto Workers Local 624, which represents workers at the plant. The line makes transfer cases, a device that changes vehicles from two-wheel to four-wheel drive.

The plant’s owner, Magna International Inc., decided earlier this year to close New Process Gear when it was unable to come to a new agreement with the UAW. New Process Gear currently employs about 950 union members, Stanton said.

The Mexican assembly line should begin making parts in January, he said. At that point the company will no longer need to make parts on its DeWitt line, Stanton said.

Unless market conditions change and the company needs to make more parts, about 125 people who work on that line will be laid off in January, he said.

The Ford Motor Co. assembly line will be the next to move, followed by Chrysler Group LLC products, he said.

The sprawling plant that for decades has made auto parts is expected to completely close by the end of 2011, Stanton said.

Local 624 has already lost 71 material handling jobs at the plant through a clause in the contract signed in 2007 that allows the company to hire non-union workers for some jobs, Stanton said. Under the clause, the union could have bid to retain the work, he said. However in that case, the non-union workers make about $11 per hour compared with about $21 per hour for union workers.

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