Year later, 150 still jobless

[puckstopshere]

Rod Woof makes didn’t mince words — it’s been a tough year.

The former Electro-Motive Diesel (EMD) worker lost his job, along with more than 600 others, last February when industrial giant Caterpillar closed the London plant, following a bitter 34-day lockout that ended Feb. 5, 2012.

“Things are pretty dire right now. I am not working. I have been doing odd jobs on the side, but that’s about it,” said Woof, 42, who worked at EMD seven years.

A welder by trade, he said he’s “waiting for things to pick up.

“I am scraping by, but I’d rather do this than make $15 an hour for Caterpillar. I never, at any time, thought we should have taken the deal.”

That “deal” is an offer from the world’s largest maker of heavy equipment — which posted record revenue of $4.9 billion a year earlier — to slash wages and benefits by about half for the 460 Canadian Auto Worker members at the plant and about another 200 salaried workers.

That closing has left in its wake, one year later, some workers who have found jobs, mostly at Cami Assembly in Ingersoll, thanks to a deal cut between GM and the CAW to give some former workers jobs at the automaker.

But for many, there has been a trail of job searches, and if they find work, it’s at much less pay.

“It breaks my heart every time I drive by that plant,” said Tim Carrie, president of CAW Local 27, representing the workers.

“It’s just a shell of a building now (and up for sale). I keep thinking how many people went through there over the years.”

Of the 460 laid-off workers, 160 will get work at Cami and a few will take work at GM’s Oshawa plant.

Of the remaining 300, about 150 have either found work or gone back to school, leaving about 150 unemployed, said Jim Wilkes, financial secretary for Local 27.

“It’s been tough to find work for these guys. If it wasn’t for them able to work at Cami, the numbers would be terrible,” Wilkes said.

“There is a real sense of loss for some of the younger workers. They start to make a good dollar and that is just not out there for them anymore.”

It’s believed many EMD workers have gone to a Progress Rail plant in Muncie, Ind., to take work there and even help train those on the job, Woof said.

“I don’t begrudge my brothers and sisters for doing it — they have families they have to provide for. I have heard there is a whole pile of them there,” he said.

“But I just won’t give them (Progress Rail) the satisfaction.”

The work was sent from London to Caterpillar’s plant in Muncie under its Progress Rail division. That plant now employs about 280 and production figures for the plant aren’t known, said Keith Roysdon, business editor for the Star Press in Muncie.

http://www.lfpress.com/2013/02/15/year-later-150-still-jobless

[puckstopshere]

Caterpillar was mentioned, by name, in Obama's State of the Union address.  He applauded them for returning American jobs to the U.S.

[pigdog47]

[pierrelebel]

I really feel sorry for the guys and gals who turned down the offer to cut wages and benefits two years ago instead of negotiating with the employer to prevent a closure of the plant and moving the operation to the USA..

Much has been said about the misrepresentation by the union leadership that wages would be cut in half.

Anyone who took the time then to look at the actual offer, saw the facts differently.

Yes, some wages were cut to $16.50 and benefits (still substantial) were trimmed severely.

However, to quote the CAW at the time "The CAW members who work in the boiler room get paid more and would have lost less than many if not most of their colleagues -- their hourly wage of $40.50 was to be reduced to $34."

Nobody likes to see a wage cut from $40.50 to $34.00 an hour.

The real question remains: are they better off today?

[prior-of-verity*shake-hands-with-your-devil]

The real question remains: are they better off today?

Depends on the perspective. Is someone who is being unjustly treated better to walk away, or stay and continue to be treated with injustice?

My father worked for a company for 27-28 years. Company ownership changed. Wages were lowered and the people were told it was hard times. Truth was the new owners were taking more money for themselves, new homes, cars, swimming pools in the back yard. One day my father walked into work, dropped his work boots in front of one of the owners and then knocked him cold.

My father was without a job for nearly a year, because what he did was very specialized and only one other company in town did the same work and they had no openings. He eventually did get a job, less pay, but he kept his integrity and stood up to those who thought they could walk over others because they held the keys to the cheque book.

[nuvistors]

 The union bosses are happy.  They stood their ground and put many people out of work.

But they did not cave in to the reasonable requests of the company.

[prior-of-verity*shake-hands-with-your-devil]

The company had no intention of keeping the production here.

[nuvistors]

The company had no intention of keeping the production here.

That is only your opinion and not based on Facts.

[pierrelebel]

"The company had no intention of keeping the production here"

We will never know for sure.

One one hand, the American labour force offered substantial savings in wages and benefits, despite original training costs.

On the other hand, if labour costs (including benefits) could have been trimmed somewhat - through serious negotiations - it would have made sense for the corporation to keep the operations here instead of taking a substantial equipment and facilities write-off and expenses related to termination of employment. Keeping a trained workforce here also has productivity advantages.

Unfortunately, and yes it is very unfortunate, the union leadership refused to negotiate from day one.  They refused to accept any concessions. Too bad.

[prior-of-verity*shake-hands-with-your-devil]

That is only your opinion

Not my opinion ....based on the 'opinion' of the workers at the plant, both before and after its closing. It was about 4 weeks ago when I found out I knew two workers from the plant, both over 13 years there.

[prior-of-verity*shake-hands-with-your-devil]

But it doesn’t matter really does it. A lot of people got their wishes:

-  They want the slow destruction of unions.

- They believe that union workers are overpaid and over benefited

[canuckchat]

Yes it was the intent to move the operations to the USA 

i worked there from 2006-2007 on a contract and my observations led me to predict at that time that the place would be closed within five years

Which it was, almost to the day!