UPDATE: Layoffs at Warsaw company tied to American Axle strike

by Samuel King (king@wsbt.com)

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The American Axle strike has led Explorer Van in Warsaw to lay off approximately 175 workers. GM factories are not getting the parts to make the vans that the company customizes. (WSBT photo)

By Beth Boehne

Story Created: Apr 22, 2008 at 10:35 AM EST

Story Updated: Apr 24, 2008 at 4:52 PM EST

WARSAW — The strike at American Axle is affecting another local employer. Explorer Van in Warsaw has temporarily laid off 175 employees. It's the first layoffs there in 27 years.

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The company customizes both Ford and GM vans, but most of its business comes from GM vans. It's not getting vans to customize because GM factories are not getting the parts to make them.

“This is our most profitable time of the season, this is when we sell the most vans, this is when we make the most vans,” said Steve Kelser, president of Explorer Van.

But now, the factory is mostly quiet and relatively empty. There a few Ford vans that need to be worked on, but after that, 10 more workers may be laid off.

“We were running about 15 vans a day up until the middle of March,” Kesler said. “I started slowing it down then to try to stretch the vans out, but lo and behold, that didn't stretch them out far enough.”

Despite the bad economy and high gas prices, the company was still selling a lot of vans.

“The van business has been tough the last 10 years and a lot of guys simply gave up,” Kesler said. “We've been fortunate.”

That is until the strike. Kesler told WSBT News the layoffs will only last as long as the strike continues. The workers are eligible for unemployment and the company will pay for health insurance for up to three months.

If production resumes relatively soon at GM plants, it would take 8 to 10 days for production to resume at Explorer Van. But a month of production at the company has already been lost.

General Motors had to close two more plants Monday because of the strike. Talks between American Axle and the United Auto Workers in the eight-week-old strike are set to resume this week.

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