Facing turnover, Packard must hire

Lower pay is causing some new hires at Packard to quit, a union leader says.

By DON SHILLING

VINDICATOR BUSINESS EDITOR

WARREN — Delphi Packard Electric is producing something a bit different from its usual array of connectors and cable — turnover.

Between 10 and 12 production workers have resigned in each of the past three months, forcing Packard to hire and train new workers, said Mike O’Donnell, shop chairman for Local 717 of the International Union of Electrical Workers.

Workers seldom used to leave Packard because of its good pay and benefits, he said.

A new labor contract cut hourly pay rates for longtime workers from $27 to $16.50, but it created even lower rates for new workers. New hires either receive $10.50 an hour with no benefits or $11 with benefits.

Some of these people find the work too demanding for the pay, so they leave, O’Donnell said.

David Olsen, communications manager for Packard, said the turnover is expected under the new contract terms and the company is prepared to train workers as necessary.

O’Donnell said the turnover may help workers in the long run. He said he hopes Packard’s parent company, Delphi Corp., will try to cut its training costs by agreeing to raise the pay of workers when the next labor contract is negotiated.

The new contract, which became effective Oct. 1, calls for 25 percent of production workers to be in the lowest pay category. That amounts to 167 workers. All of them were hired after Delphi filed for bankruptcy protection.

The contract allowed the rest of the post-bankruptcy hires to be placed in the $11 category. That amounts to 120 workers.

These workers have the same health-care insurance as longtime workers but don’t have vision or dental insurance. They also have smaller layoff benefits until they reach three years of service.

Workers in the lowest tier can move up to the $11-an-hour tier when there are vacancies, but the new hires can’t advance to the $16.50-an-hour tier.

The workers in the lower-paying categories were hired as temporary workers but became permanent employees under the new contract.

The scope of Packard’s local operations has been greatly reduced as Delphi reorganizes, with the hourly work force being cut from 3,800 to 1,000. Locally, Packard operates plastic-molding plants in Cortland and Vienna, metal-stamping and cable-making plants on North River Road in Warren and a resin compounding plant in Rootstown.

O’Donnell said he’s hoping Packard’s local operations can expand in the future. The union granted concessions so the company could be more competitive when bidding for work, he said.

The new labor contract provides that General Motors Corp. will continue its contracts with Packard through 2011. Local Packard plants produce components that are used in vehicle wiring systems.

In addition to hiring production workers, Packard also is looking to hire 20 to 25 journeyman electricians. These workers will start at $20 an hour but pay will rise to $22 an hour over two years.

These vacancies were created because of the large number of electricians that accepted early retirement and buyout offers last year. Packard has been using electricians who had taken buyouts last year to fill the vacancies.

shilling@vindy.com