Home News Tribune
February 28, 2004
Edison plant's workers challenge claim of offer to transfer
By KEN TARBOUS
BUSINESS WRITER
EDISON: When Ford Motor Co. employee Bob Levy read the news yesterday, he got angry.
As a skilled tradesman, a pipefitter, at the automaker's Edison Assembly Plant, he hadn't been offered a transfer to a new job, contrary to what the company and the union local had said.
“I was offered absolutely nothing,” said the Edison resident, who has 25 years of service with the company, which ceased production in Edison Thursday.
Very few of the electricians, millwrights and pipefitters transfered to other Ford locations across the country, he said.
Levy, whose father retired after 30 years with Ford and whose brother is a 30-year employee, isn't happy with a layoff.
“I just want to work,” said Levy, 43, who made more than $100,000 last year with overtime. “I don't want to sit home and collect a free paycheck. I'd rather go and work.”
The father of two, who blames Ford executives in Michigan for his job problems, said he will get about half his weekly pay while on layoff. “It's a big pay cut for me.”
The United Auto Workers of America contract guarantees 95 percent of base pay, combining state unemployment and supplementary company benefits throughout the 40-week layoff period.
Alan Evans, human resources manager of vehicle operations at the Edison facility, conceded his statement that all employees at the Route 1 facility had the opportunity to transfer was “technically … not exactly accurate.”
“Technically, those 50 guys didn't get job offers; they're right,” Evans said.
Approximately 50 of the 260 Ford workers going on layoff Monday are skilled tradespeople, he added. About a dozen skilled workers previously took advantage of a limited number of job openings.
“The only people that really didn't get offered opportunities to go were the skilled tradespeople,” Evans said. “There were some limited opportunities, and some of them are transfering, but we didn't have enough opportunities for all of them to transfer.
“We're not happy with the fact that there aren't more skilled-trade openings,” Evans said. “We wish there were.”
Once on layoff, those skilled workers who had done production work would be able to take nonskilled work positions, according to Evans.
Thomas Gonzales, 33, of North Brunswick is a pipefitter who has worked for more than 11 years at the Ford facility.
He said he was offended by previous statements that all workers could have taken transfers. “It makes it seem like we're lazy and we don't want to go anywhere, when we weren't offered anything.”
Gonzales said he wants to work.
“I’d rather have a transfer, I don't want to collect unemployment,” he said. “I have no choice.”
The father of two, who makes $28 per hour, said some people have painted a rosy picture of the workers' benefits and job guarantees under the union contract, which ends in September 2007. “When you've got kids and a mortgage, it's not a good deal.''
Tony Capriglione, benefits representative for UAW Local 980, also confirmed what the skilled tradespeople said about the lack of transfer opportunities.
“It's not just us,” Capriglione said. “Unfortunately, there are skilled tradespeople all over the country sitting (on layoff).”
Local 980 President Jim Shaw has said a job was available for every worker who wanted one. He was quoted in yesterday's edition of the Home News Tribune as saying, “We could have taken care of all of our members.” He was not available for comment yesterday.
Ford announced in 2002 that it would cease production at the Route 1 facility as part of a reorganization plan.
Of the more than 800 workers from the plant, 750 hourly and 93 salaried, 350 have retired and 150 have taken jobs at one of 11 other Ford facilities, all in the United States.
As part of the realignment, the Dearborn, Mich.-based automaker has shifted production of the Ford Ranger and Mazda B-Series compact pickups from Edison to its St. Paul, Minn., factory.
The Edison plant had been putting out 288 vehicles a day beginning last year. Since 1949, when the first Lincoln-Mercury models were built in Edison, more than 6.8 million vehicles have been produced there.
Shares of Ford (F) close up 9 cents at $13.75 on the NYSE yesterday.
