Cost cuts at Chrysler include 250 jobs

AUBURN HILLS, Mich., Sept. 26 (UPI) -- Chrysler LLC said it would lay off 250 white-collar staff members to reach its goal of reducing U.S. office staff by 1,000.

About three-quarters of the employee reduction was met through voluntary departures, Chrysler spokesman Doug Elshoff said.

"The balance of our separations will be -- by necessity -- involuntary, and will take place by month's end, with the majority taking place on Friday," Elshoff told the Detroit Free Press.

Chrysler is reducing staff in reaction to a sales slide of 24 percent this year -- a slide predicated by rising gasoline prices and a consumer bolt to smaller cars.

In another effort to reduce costs, the automaker said it was working with suppliers to try switching work schedules at Toledo, Ohio, assembly plants to four 10-hour days, the Free Press said.