Dana cuts work force at Fort Wayne plant in half, falls to 165 employees

Greater Fort Wayne Business Weekly

Toledo-based Dana Holding Corp. laid off about half of its remaining work force in Fort Wayne last Friday, according to Denny Leazier, the president of United Steelworkers Local 903.

That leaves just 165 production workers at the company's large plant on West State Boulevard.

The company's media office did not respond to a call requesting details on the cuts, and no information was available on the state of Indiana's Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification act Web page.

In 2007, the United Steelworkers and the United Auto Workers unions together reached a deal that saved Dana plants in Fort Wayne and Marion, which otherwise would have been closed in five years.

But the cost to workers was high. The two-tiered contract that went into effect about the middle of that year left workers here with about 75 cents on the dollar of what they had, Leazier said.

Dana, which survived a bankruptcy filing, also sought to eliminate health-care benefits for retirees. The company and the unions finally reached a deal to maintain much of those benefits.

In 2000, Dana's Fort Wayne operations employed about 2,500 people. Less than two years later, that had declined to about 1,500, and the numbers have continued to drop as the company cut production, sold off some of its businesses and consolidated operations.