(throw) down one's tools

三菱自動車の景気はupbeatだったはずなのに撤退ですか...。欧州危機が本格的なものになってきていることを感じさせられます。down toolsはイギリスの口語で、go on a strikeです。down their toolsとはまさに絵が描ける言い回しですね。（Sugiuchi）

Dutch workers down tools at Mitsubishi plant
BUSINESS FEB. 11, 2012 - 06:45AM JST ( 19 )THE HAGUE —
Dutch workers at Mitsubishi’s sole western European plant downed tools Friday, demanding the Japanese carmaker find a buyer for the NedCar factory, where production is set to seize by year-end.

The Japanese carmaker announced in Tokyo on Monday it was planning to halt automobile production in Europe by the end of 2012, blaming a difficult operating environment in the debt-hit continent.

“The strike was 100% successful,” said Henk van Rees, a leader of the plant’s majority FNV Bondgenoten union, claiming some 1,300 of the 1,500 workers at the plant in the southern town of Born joined in.

The unions demanded Mitsubishi work with the Dutch government to find a buyer after the company said Tuesday it was willing to sell the plant “for one euro” if a new owner could guarantee the 1,500 workers would remain employed.

“We also need a good social plan,” Van Rees said, adding that “workers’ average age at the plant is 50 years. We think it’s unlikely the majority of them will find a job.”

“It’s our last battle,” he told AFP.

A new protest was planned “probably by Thursday” in The Hague, the union said, where parliamentarians are to discuss the plant’s future.

The Japanese carmaker produces the Colt subcompact and the Outlander sports utility models at the wholly-owned unit, located about 180 kilometers southeast of Amsterdam.

Output at NedCar, which was established in 1991, has remained sharply below its production capacity of 200,000 units a year, contributing to Mitsubishi Motors’ operating loss in Europe, reports said.

Fewer than 50,000 cars were assembled in 2010.

© 2012 AFP