Electricians still in demand at Packard

By Don Shilling

The pay rate is too low to attract skilled workers, a union official says.

WARREN — Delphi Packard Electric still is short of electricians nearly two years after cutting its work force with generous buyouts.

The Warren-based unit of Delphi Corp. has been placing ads that seek journeyman electricians at $20 an hour, growing to $22 an hour over time.

The pay isn’t high enough to entice workers who can make more elsewhere, said Mike O’Donnell, shop chairman of Local 717 of the International Union of Electrical Workers.

The job paid $33 an hour before Delphi persuaded the union to take pay and benefit cuts in a new labor contract last year. Michigan-based Delphi has been operating under bankruptcy court protection since 2005 and continues to lose money.

Electricians who had been with Packard saw their pay cut to $26 an hour with the new contract. They are receiving a $75,000 payment over three years in exchange for the pay cut.

O’Donnell said electricians at Packard must have advanced skills in order to maintain the high-tech production equipment.

“People with that skill set can make as much or more outside Packard. That’s why it’s difficult to find them,” he said.

O’Donnell said Packard is short about a dozen electricians.

The company engaged in another recruiting effort last fall and netted only a few new electricians, he said.

David Olsen, a Packard spokesman, said he would have to check into the matter before commenting.

In other staffing matters, Packard continues to operate with a reduced work force because of the strike at American Axle, O’Donnell said. The strike has shut down numerous General Motors assembly plants that Packard supplies with wiring harnesses and related products. American Axle workers are voting on a tentative agreement that could end the strike, however.

O’Donnell said between 20 and 150 Packard workers have been off the job on any given week. These layoffs have been made by department based on work load.

Though those layoffs have been short term, other long-term cutbacks have been made at Packard. The company laid off 15 workers in both December and April because of the slowdown in GM’s sales of sport utility vehicles and pickup trucks, O’Donnell said. GM is Packard’s biggest customer. These workers remain off the job, but retain call-back rights for up to five years.

O’Donnell said he expects more long-term layoffs because national auto sales continue to be sluggish.

Packard’s hourly work force was cut from 3,800 to 700 by the 2006 buyouts, which ranged from $35,000 to $140,000. Once the cutbacks were made, Packard hired 300 workers. The new workers receive less pay and benefits than longtime workers.

shilling@vindy.com