I already wrote an article for this month’s Focus on Labor, but due to the unfolding of events last month, I thought I would express my concerns for the future of General Motors and this plant specifically.

I read in the newspaper the problem GM is having with the cost of health care and pensions.  There are 2½ retirees for every one of us still working.  To add to GM’s problems, look at our workforce.  We are getting older and our numbers are shrinking.  If they replace a retiree, they are usually as old as, or older than the one they are replacing.  It will not be long and most of us will be gone.  That will be a bigger problem for this plant than anyone here really understands.

As everyone knows, what makes this place work is the people who work here.  Maybe it’s the conservative background most of us come from.  Whatever the source, it is our attitude and our work ethic that makes this plant stand out from the others; and I have to say this, in spite of management.  I’m not talking about any one person.  I am talking about how this place is run. 

Every other place I worked was about profit.  The owner or plant manager knew that they could not run the business by themselves.  They placed people in each department who not only know how to work with people, but also had a working knowledge of what those people did.  When something didn’t get done, these people knew the difference between an excuse and a reason, and they knew how to deal with both.  Their job depended on how well we did our job.  If you wouldn’t work, they would let you go.  If you couldn’t work, they would train you or make sure you had the tools and parts you needed to get the job done. 

At the end of the month they had to show a profit or have a good reason.  What these supervisors had that we don’t is this:  authority.

Our supervisors are responsible for their departments, but they have no authority.  They get the blame or the credit, but usually have little control in each case.

I’m not even sure our Plant Manager has the authority to run this plant the way it should be done.  He really doesn’t have any vested interest here.  If this plant goes down, the blame will fall on his shoulders and I am sure they will blame the union.  But you will have to ask how the best Stamping Plant in GM fell apart so quickly under his watch, unless of course he has no real authority either.

As a chaplain, I talk to a lot of you.  We all have complaints, but this is still a good place to work.  Our problems are not the same, but the causes are.  Management’s failure is to deal with problems; especially people problems.

What I know best here is what goes on in Tractor Repair and Material Handling.  Perhaps your department handles problems the same way.  For your information, the computers on our lift trucks are not the first thing Material Handling has gotten that does not work and is costing this plant tons of money. 

The first example of what I am talking about was about 15 years ago.  We bought our first fleet of AC fork lifts.  Within a year they were falling apart.  It was a good thing we had a lot of the older trucks sitting around or Production would have gone down.  Can you imagine how surprised we all were when brought in the next batch of AC’s.  Were we the only ones having problems with these trucks?  They remove all the extra trucks in spite of protest from their own management team.

What happened?  Purchasing had went with what they thought was the best buy!  Material Handling did not tell anyone that this truck didn’t work or the message fell on deaf ears.

And of course Truck Repair became a huge drain on the plant’s profitability. 

How to fix the problem?  Rent.  The rental company told us what size units and batteries we needed and made us change our PM program to meet the need of their trucks.  This was what we had been saying all along.  Problem solved?  No!  We ordered two new die haul units that pull well, but can’t push.

We have a whole fleet of tow tractors that spent their first year in our shop while their manufacturer tried to make them run.  They reengineered the truck’s control system and now are trying to find a way to keep the drive motor from burning up.

The new crane savers we had to disable the braking function of the controls to keep them working.  Their hydraulic system, even the manufacturer doesn’t know how it works, as evident by the brake problem on 18F2.

And of course there are our 17 new lift trucks.  They run well.  the problem is they only get two hours per battery when working hard.  That’s 1/3 the time that all the other trucks get.  That means we have to change and charge batteries three times as much.  Now factor in the age of our batteries.  I don’t think you could shut off enough lights each weekend for a year to cover the additional cost of charging just these batteries.  Eight hours of charging for two hours of use.  What if the next group of lift trucks are the same?  Now put on these trucks a computer system that doesn’t work and adds additional hours to their job.

So the question is, “Why do we have to keep this stuff and try to make it work?”  In a company where profit means keeping the doors open, this would never happen.  Each department has a budget and the last thing they would want is a piece of equipment that took more from their budget.  Cost is not just the purchase price.  It is the cost of operating and maintenance too.  I know GM does not keep track of these things.  You can see it by some of the illogical decisions they have made.

What can we do?  First, do what we have always done.  Most of you no longer are concerned that this place will be here for our children.  Most are just hoping that the doors stay open long enough for you to retire. 

What made this plant different were the people who work here.  A lot of jobs we got were jobs others could not get to work.  We have a history of quality and cooperation that has kept this stand alone plant a shining example of what can be done in spite of whatever obstacles we had to overcome.  So just do your work the best you can. 

The next thing you can do is understand.  GM says that safety is first.  Production is close behind.  In truth, I think it is these little pet programs.  We have all been through them before.  They are always important when they first come out and every plant manager needs to meet those requirements.  Production and safety seem to go right out the window until this month’s pet project works or the next one comes out. 

There is not much this plant manager can do with the corporation looking for excuses to shut down plants.  What plant manager wants to be the first to say he can’t get their pet project to work?   There’s not anything our union can do but walk out, and I am sure that’s not going to make things better. 

The problem is that those who make these decisions are far removed from those they impact.  By the time they find out it is not working, it’s too late.

The third thing you can do is pray.  The bible says to pray for those that are over you.  What could it hurt?  I know, I’m the chaplain and I’m supposed to say that.  But what would happen if some truthful dialogue would start at all levels of this corporation?  Maybe, just maybe - profit.

David M. Karel, Chaplain

UAW Local 730