Canadian Auto Workers president Buzz Hargrove is calling on the federal government to take steps to revitalize the "horrible situation" faced by the Canadian auto industry after a second round of job cuts at a major automaker in two days.

Chrysler LLC said yesterday it will cut 1,000 salaried jobs worldwide by Sept. 30, and it's expected that those cuts will affect some of the 1,000 salaried Chrysler employees in Canada.

The announcement came a day after Ford Motor Co. announced it would delay the startup of a third shift at its Oakville plant, leaving 350 people without a job.

"Every day now is more bad news in our industry," he said.

"It's a very stressful time for our union and especially our members and their families at GM, Ford, Chrysler and independent auto parts supplies now. It's just a horrible situation."

But Ottawa "doesn't even recognize" the problem, said Hargrove.

"We really need the feds to join with us in partnership to deal with the challenges that we face and try to bring in some programs that will help restore the strength of the industry."