Windsor minivan plant humming and hearing talk of new hiring
Business is so brisk for Chrysler’s Windsor Assembly Plant that CAW Local 444 president Rick Laporte hopes the company will do something next year it hasn’t done for a more than a decade — hire workers.
The minivan plant, which just last year had its third shift, with 1,200 jobs, cancelled but then saved as Chrysler struggled for its very survival, has enjoyed surging demand.
By the end of July it had built 180,915 minivans, compared to 71,741 during the the same period last year, when the plant was shut for two months during the restructuring.
In the last year, no one’s been on layoff.
The plant is scheduled for three sixth-shift Saturdays in the coming weeks and has worked eight already.
In July, the company sold more minivans in Canada than in any month in the vehicle’s 27-year history. In the U.S., where the vast majority of minivans are destined, sales to date are up 15 per cent for the Dodge Grand Caraan and 36 per cent for the Chrysler Town & Country.
Laporte said that with a significant redesign in November he is hoping sales grow by 60,000 next year.
That would require extra sixth shifts almost every Saturday, on overtime, in 2011. And as workers retire, he can see the need for new recruits.
“Absolutely, things are perking up at Windsor Assembly Plant, and I would suggest to you that Windsor Assembly is not that far away, I would say a year, from hiring people,” Laporte said.
The last time there was any hiring at the plant was 2000.
Chrysler Canada spokeswoman Mary Gauthier said she couldn’t comment on the possibility of new hires next year or on sales projections for the redesigned minivan.
“We’re not forecasting volumes for next year, but we have said we’re doing a major, major refresh for the minivan, and you’ve got to to believe it will have great popularity with Canadians,” she said.
Automotive journalist Eric Mayne of WardsAuto.com said there’s a consensus the auto industry as a whole will be stronger next year, but he stopped short of predicting new hires and a year of sixth shifts at Windsor Assembly.
But a good redesign could help, and there may be some pent-up demand among government customers for fleet sales, he said.
“The stars could be aligned perfectly next year. You get a new model, you get more demand for fleet sales because they need to replace vehicles,” said Mayne, a former Windsor Star journalist who still lives in Windsor.
When the minivan plant is humming, it has a direct impact on Windsor, he said. “The status of that plant is a decent barometer of the future economy.”
Observers say it’s no coincidence that while the plant has been cranking out minivans at a furious pace this year, Windsor’s economic indicators have been steadily, though slowly, impoving.
The July unemployment rate is the lowest it’s been in 19 months, though at 11.6 per cent it remains the highest of any city in the country.
Real estate sales are rising. In the first quarter of the year, they were up 44 per cent compared to the same quarter in 2009.
“Things are starting to move,” said real estate board president Anna Vozza. “You found before, things were selling in the low end and the high end. Now it’s more across the board.”
She said consumers are more confident, thanks to good news at the Chrysler plant, the government-funded infrastructure projects that are injecting millions into the construction industry, green energy projects and Wednesday’s announcement of a new 360-job air freight operation at the airport.
Home sales are up 18 per cent this year compared to the same time last year and the average home price has risen from $155,582 to $161,106.
Earlier this week the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. announced new home starts in Windsor and surrounding towns had reached 257 so far, a 95 per cent increase over a year ago, though far from the heady days of 2002 to 2004, when at least 2,500 homes were built annually.
The numbers are “certainly positive,” said Mike Dinchik, executive director of the Greater Windsor Home Builders Association.
Builders notice that the “confidence is back up” among people looking to build a home, he said.
CMHC market analyst Margot Stevenson said the rate of people leaving the city has significantly declined and consumer confidence is better than a year ago. “We’ve turned the corner and we’re slowly recovering,” she said.
Home builder Mastercraft Homes has experienced a 25 per cent rise in sales. Spokesman Bill Salzer said one noticeable trend is people from places like Vancouver and Toronto, where house prices are high, coming to Windsor to retire. Big sellers are the single-storey townhouses that start at $185,000 in the Riverside neighbourhood of Aspen Lake.
“Sell your house, buy a better house down here, and put a couple hundred thousand in the bank,” he said.
http://www.windsorstar.com/
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