WARREN Packard lays off 214 hired recently

Fewer workers are needed because orders are down, the company says.
By DON SHILLING
VINDICATOR BUSINESS EDITOR
WARREN -- Delphi Packard Electric Systems laid off 214 recently hired employees and has 300 senior employees reporting to work even though it has no production jobs for them.
Orders are so slow that the maker of wiring harnesses for vehicles is cutting back on its work force, which now totals 4,000, said Doug Hoy, a company spokesman.
The 214 workers were placed on indefinite layoff Friday, which means Packard has no plans to call them back.
These workers are among the 220 people who were hired after the last labor contract was signed in 1999. Workers who were on the job when the contract was signed cannot be permanently laid off.
Gary Reiser, president of Local 717 of the International Union of Electrical Workers, said the union hoped to bring the same job protection to the new hires in a contract now being negotiated.
Because of this job protection, 300 senior workers have been in a program since August that has them report to work even though there is no production work for them.
"They read a book or they can do United Way duties," Reiser said.
Negotiations
This is the first time the program has been used locally since it was negotiated in 1984, he said.
Senior workers can be laid off only temporarily for brief drops in production volumes, but they still receive 95 percent of their pay through unemployment compensation and supplemental benefits.
Reiser said he questions whether Packard is laying off the 214 workers before a new contract is in place so they don't receive the same protection. Or perhaps, Packard is trying to gain leverage in the talks being held in advance of the contract expiring Nov. 14, he said.
Reiser said negotiations have been going slowly, and the layoffs will make them more difficult.
"We'll do whatever we can to get them back," he said.
Hoy said the cuts are coming simply because Packard doesn't have as many orders. Automakers have cut back some orders, while contracts for certain vehicle programs have ended as models are redesigned or phased out.
He declined to say if Packard's future production volume will be lower.
"We're constantly out there competing to win new programs," he said. "How this will affect our Ohio operations is hard to say. It depends on the program."
Employee shifts
Packard recently tried to reduce its staffing without layoffs by offering two opportunities for workers to retire and receive a $15,000 bonus. About 400 workers took the offer this year.
Reiser said the union is doing what it can in contract negotiations to keep jobs in the Mahoning Valley but is fighting a worldwide trend to move work to low-wage countries.
"We'd like to see more work brought here, but they say it's hard for us to be competitive," he said.
Packard has transformed local operations into component-making operations, where workers can operate machines that churn out large volumes of plastic and metal parts and cable. Labor-intensive work, such as assembling wiring harnesses, has been shifted to Mexico.
Packard, which is a division of Michigan-based Delphi Corp., had about 10,500 hourly workers in 1980 and about 8,500 in 1995, which is more than double what it has now.
It also has about 1,400 salaried workers in the area, which is down from 1,900 just a few years ago.