Delphi gives closing date for Home Avenue plant
Thursday, November 06, 2008
DAYTON — More than a year after workers there approved a contract closing the plant, Delphi Corp. has finally given a closing date for its Home Avenue facility.
The chassis plant between Third Street and U.S. 35 will be closed by or about Dec. 31, Larry Johnson, the plant manager, wrote in a letter to the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services. The closing affects about 380 workers.
"It is anticipated that these layoffs will be permanent," Johnson wrote.
As recently as July, the bankrupt auto parts producer was actually hiring workers for the Home Avenue plant and another plant off Northwoods Boulevard in Vandalia, said Dennis Bingham, president of the union that represents workers at both sites, United Steelworkers Local 87. The Vandalia site has been expected to continue operating.
Delphi has been under bankruptcy protection since October 2005, and in that time the company has closed plants in Moraine, off Needmore Road in Dayton and leased part of its Kettering plant to Tenneco, another auto parts producer.
In late October, a bankruptcy judge in New York gave Delphi more time to emerge from protection. Delphi now employs about 169,500 people at 156 plants in 34 countries around the world. In 1999, the company has 15,000 workers in the Dayton area alone.
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2390 or tgnau@DaytonDailyNews.com.
