Worker recalls how animosities were put aside to save plant

Ken Jakubec is glad the plant remained open for younger workers' sake.
By DON SHILLING
VINDICATOR BUSINESS EDITOR
LORDSTOWN -- The car assembly plant here has plenty of new industrial equipment -- stamping presses, welders and chassis carriers that guide themselves by magnets in the floor.
Looking back at his 36 years at the plant, however, Ken Jakubec of Austintown said the biggest change hasn't been in the equipment, but the people.
"The working relationships are better than I've ever seen before," said Jakubec, a team leader in the fluid fill area.
He was there in the 1970s when union and management leaders distrusted each other. Relations were so bad that researchers used Lordstown as a case study in what was going wrong in U.S. manufacturing plants. They coined the term "Blue Collar Blues" to describe the disillusionment of assembly line workers.
Now, the two sides cooperate and understand that they need each other, Jakubec said. Managers listen to the input from line workers, who in return get more done and are willing to help the plant be successful, he said.
"It's more a group build for the new Cobalt and not just management only," he said.
He said a defining moment in the history of the labor relationship at the plant came in 1992, when GM announced it was closing the van plant at the complex.
He remembers when management stopped the line to tell workers that the plant would close.
"I was stunned," he said.
Impetus for action
Several years later, GM began talking about launching a new small car to replace the Chevrolet Cavalier that has been built in Lordstown since 1981. GM wouldn't commit to building the new model in Lordstown, however.
Workers increasingly got nervous over the future of the plant, Jakubec said. Management and union workers knew that if GM had closed the van plant, it could also shut down the assembly plant.
People on both sides knew they had to prove to GM that the plant deserved a long-term commitment, he said.
"The thought of losing this place and not having anything broke a lot of people," he said.
Union leaders and management began working together to solve issues and increase the productivity of the plant, he said.
By deciding to invest $1 billion in upgrading the plant, GM clearly has been impressed, he said.
"Somewhere along the line, we must have done something right," he said.
Looking out for others
Like Jakubec, many workers have more than 30 years at the plant and can retire with a full pension, but they still wanted the plant to stay open to provide jobs for younger workers, he said.
For years, the workers lived with the nagging thought that the plant could be closed. Then GM announced in 2002 that the Cobalt would be built in Lordstown.
"It was like a load had been taken off your shoulders," he said.
Workers on the line are committed to building the Cobalt right so it has a successful launch, he said.
"When you get into the car and drive it, you want it to perform," he said.
shilling@vindy.com