Chrysler to cut 250 salaried workers

DETROIT (Reuters) - Chrysler LLC said on Thursday it plans to cut about 250 salaried workers as part of its effort to reduce white-collar jobs by the end of the month, with a majority of dismissals coming as soon as Friday.

Chrysler had announced in July that it planned to cut 1,000 salaried jobs -- mostly through retirements, special programs and attrition -- to slash costs and survive a deep industry downturn.

"Approximately three-quarters of that reduction will be achieved through voluntary actions," Chrysler said in a statement. "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."

The privately held automaker, controlled by Cerberus Capital Management CBS.UL, is also offering buyouts to almost all of its 14,000 factory workers represented by the United Auto Workers union in Michigan.

Chrysler has set a target of eliminating 22,000 hourly jobs in North America through a series of buyout offers for union workers announced since last year.

The automaker, like its U.S. rivals General Motors Corp GM.N and Ford Motor Co (F.N), has been hit hard by the sharp decline in sales of pickup trucks, SUVs and vans that followed the rise in gas prices.

Chrysler's U.S. sales have fallen nearly 25 percent through the first eight months of the year, the largest decline of any major U.S. automaker. Light trucks account for nearly 70 percent of Chrysler's volume at a time when consumers are moving toward smaller and more fuel-efficient vehicles.

To offset the slide in sales, Chrysler has been closing plants and cutting jobs amid the sales slump. It has also identified nearly $1 billion in nonearning assets for sale to raise cash for operations.

(Reporting by Poornima Gupta; Editing by Bernard Orr)