Options promised to workers at Ohio plant

TWINSBURG, Ohio (AP) — Officials in and around the town of Twinsburg are already looking for ways to attract new jobs to the site of a large Chrysler factory, which the automaker says it plans to shut down sometime next year.

Chrysler announced Friday that it plans to close its Twinsburg parts- stamping plant. The factory, one of five U.S. plants scheduled to close by the end of 2010, has about 1,200 workers.

“This is probably the worst time to get this news during this economy,” Twinsburg Mayor Katherine Procop said. “We will stand behind the workers there and do everything we can to mediate and mitigate the effects of that loss.”

The plant opened in 1957 and grew to about 3,400 workers by the late 1980s. It remains Twinsburg’s largest employer, contributing $2.2 million annually in income tax, or 13 percent of the town’s income tax base.

“They truly built our city,” Procop said. “This was a rural community 50 years ago.”

Even before Friday’s announcement, the city near Cleveland began cutting back on expenses because of concerns over the plant’s future, Procop said. Now, a second look at the budget is necessary, she said.

Because of past layoffs, the state already had been assisting and assessing skills of workers at Twinsburg and another plant in Toledo, Ohio Department of Development interim director Mark Barbash said. That work will continue, he said.

Workers at Chrysler’s assembly plant in Toledo were told last week that production there would stop Monday until further notice.

The state also will focus on helping auto suppliers, possibly by focusing on changing industrial capabilities to aerospace and alternative energy, Barbash said.

City officials will contact President Barack Obama’s auto task force for assistance in finding a new major employer, Procop said. Greater Akron Chamber Vice President Rick Rebadow said there’s plenty of time between now and 2010 to find new business for the area and to look at other options for the facility and its employees.

But it’s doubtful those jobs will pay $30 an hour, said Richard Ramsey, an electrician at the plant.

“The automobile industry — not only Chrysler, but GM and Ford — these are the last of the big-time rollers,” the 62-year-old from Alliance said. “There’s a lot of upset people, but what can you do?”