Musashi Auto Parts Canada Inc. is feeling the effects of a reeling automotive industry and just prior to Christmas it laid off 81 employees at its Arthur plant.
Section head of administration Pete Hoffman said on Tuesday the layoffs came prior to the plant’s shutdown over the holidays.
The layoffs included:
– 15 associates (full-time staff) on Dec. 12, which is to be temporary; and
– a further reduction of 66 employees Dec. 19, bringing the total number of temporary layoffs to 81.
Hoffman said the company does not know when they might be called back. He said the measures were taken “in response to recently announced production cuts by our customers for the first quarter of 2009.”
Hoffman added the company is “uncertain as to how long the layoff period will be.”
He concluded, “We deeply regret the hardship on our associates and their families as a result of these actions.”
The Arthur plant is not the only division of Musashi Auto Parts that is feeling the pinch.
In late December the Battle Creek Enquirer, of Michigan, announced Musashi’s intent to lay off 55 workers there for two weeks, starting Feb. 17. That announcement came by a notice to state and local government units. The company said the 55 workers at the plant in Battle Creek’s Fort Custer Industrial Park will be off from Feb. 17 to March 3.
“As a result of the temporary layoff, 55 associates will be temporarily laid off beginning between Feb. 17 and March 3,” the notice read. “None of the affected associates are represented by a union.”
There was no immediate word on total current employment at the plant, but the company indicated last spring that it employed 450 workers.
That plant makes gears for automatic transmissions, camshafts, and other parts.
In late December, Musashi also temporarily laid off workers from its Bennettsville, South Carolina plant.
The reason for that particular layoff was cited as a drop in orders. The South Carolina plant produces ATV gears and other parts for the automotive industry.
There Musashi had put some workers on short-time, meaning their hours were cut, and had given others a few weeks off for Christmas.
