The auto plant at center of a misleading TV ad run by Mitt Romney’s campaign during the 2012 presidential election is booming, Bloomberg reported Friday.
In a last-ditch effort to swing Ohio into the Republican column in the waning days of the campaign, Romney’s team aired an ad that gave the impression that Chrysler would ship jobs to China because of President Obama’s auto rescue.
“Obama took GM and Chrysler into bankruptcy and sold Chrysler to Italians who are going to build Jeeps in China,” the ad’s narrator claimed.
Not only is the factory in question still in Ohio, demand for Jeeps is so great that Chrysler is planning on hiring up to 1,000 part-time workers as a way to alleviate pressure on regular employees who work 60 hours per week.
“Our people have been working a tremendous amount of hours,” Toledo Assembly Plant Manager Chuck Padden told the Toledo Blade. “To get them more time off is important to us, to make sure they’re refreshed, and can work safely.”
Chrysler has already hired 380 temporary part-time employees, 50 of which been converted to regular, full-time employees, according to the Blade. The company is also offering the part-time workers limited benefits, including health insurance.
