Packard to hire electricians after buyouts, retirements

Journeyman electricians will make $20 an hour.

By DON SHILLING

VINDICATOR BUSINESS EDITOR

WARREN — After cutting 3,100 positions last year, Delphi Packard Electric is hiring again.

The Warren-based auto parts supplier has openings for 20 to 25 electricians.

More workers are needed because of the large number of electricians who accepted buyout and early-retirement offers last year, said a Packard spokeswoman.

To have enough staff this year, Packard has called back some of those workers temporarily.

The new hires would be brought in as journeyman electricians and paid $20 an hour. Pay would rise to $22 an hour after two years.

A requirement includes eight years of trade-related work experience. Applications are being accepted at the One Stop Workforce Center, 280 N. Park Ave., Warren; Workforce Connection, 1081 W. Main St., Ravenna; and CareerLink of Mercer County, 217 W. State St., Sharon, Pa.

Packard last year cut its hourly staff from 3,800 to 700 with early-retirement offers of $35,000 for anyone with at least 30 years of service. Workers not eligible to retire could take buyouts of either $70,000 or $140,000, depending on their years of service.

Packard later brought on 300 temporary workers at a lower pay scale, and they became permanent workers under a new labor contract approved in August.

The contract calls for these workers to be paid $11 an hour, while production workers who had been with the company had their hourly pay cut from $27 to $16.50. Skilled trades workers earn more.

Packard is part of Michigan-based Delphi Corp., which has been operating under bankruptcy court protection. Local plants produce components for vehicle wiring systems.

shilling@vindy.com