By Stephen Dick
The Herald Bulletin
A daily newspaper serving Anderson, Indiana, and adjacent areas northeast of Indianapolis.
More and more white-collar workers are organizing. A few years go, the figure stood at 11 million and has certainly increased since then. Doctors, teachers, engineers and attorneys who never had any use for unions now see the safety and bargaining power in numbers.
ANDERSON, Indiana — A year ago Guide Corp. closed here. Guide, under various names, had been a General Motors staple in the community for more than 70 years. It manufactured headlights and taillights and, during World War II, turned over its facility to the war effort. During its existence it employed thousands and provided an above-average standard of living for its hourly workers who were members of the United Auto Workers.
In the late 1990s, GM spun off Guide Corp. into its own entity as the auto giant did with most of its factories that weren't involved in final assembly. In 1999, Guide was on its own, at least that's what everyone was told. Every product that was made went to GM, and GM called the shots when it was time to close. Neither GM nor Guide would admit to it, but Guide was very much under the control of GM.
In 2004, UAW Local 663, whose members worked at Guide, became the first local in the country to agree to a two-tier wage system, something GM achieved with all its locals in 2007. The Guide workers did this to ensure their continued viability. But it wasn't enough to keep the doors from being padlocked. It's never enough when corporate America looks at nothing but the bottom line.
Today there is one Guide employee in a makeshift office next to the railroad tracks. He's there to answer questions, but he wouldn't answer any of mine. There's a huge empty office building in nearby Pendleton where Guide, post-GM, built a new headquarters. There are some 400 hourly workers who, after a year of struggle, finally got a written promise from GM to hire them when openings come up. Given GM's recent announcement of a $30 billion loss, no one should hold their breath for a new job.
Then there was another group. Guide employed some 1,000 engineers, highly educated men and women who designed future generations of auto lighting. Unlike the hourly workers, they had marketable skills and were amply rewarded for it. When Guide closed, the engineers were given a six-month salary-and-benefits kiss and shown the door.
The hourly workers continue on with their benefits and most of the their pay until March 2009 when the contract between Guide and the UAW expires.
A couple of weeks ago my newspaper — The Herald Bulletin — ran a story about the Guide hourly employees going to GM. I got a call from a woman who was the wife of one of Guide's engineers.
She said he husband still hasn't found a job, that other engineering disciplines didn't need someone with a lighting background. The only way he's going to get a job, she said, is for them to move away. Currently they're making do on her salary.
I sympathized with her plight. I had been trying to tell this story since Guide closed, but no one would talk. She asked me what the union was doing for the engineers. Well, nothing. There's nothing it can do. I did tell her that if her husband and others would have joined the UAW, things would've been different. She understood, but said professionals look down on the unions.
Well, who's looking down now?
More and more white-collar workers are organizing. A few years go, the figure stood at 11 million and has certainly increased since then. Doctors, teachers, engineers and attorneys who never had any use for unions now see the safety and bargaining power in numbers.
Unions aren't immune to corporate money-grubbing that sends jobs overseas in order to feather the nests of investors. But their protection is more immediate and lasts longer.
The engineers made the mistake many years ago to believe that their skills were so specialized that the company would take care of them. But engineering schools abroad are cranking out graduates who are just as knowledgeable as those in the U.S., and work cheaper. It's that last part that appeals to the corporate mentality.
The woman's husband was at Guide 27 years, not quite enough to retire. He's in employment limbo. It's a hard pill to swallow, but it should be a lesson to future engineers and other professionals. Unions should actively court these workers and bring them into the tent.
It won't be a guarantee against global gluttony that uses up people and spits them out in the name of profits, but it will be a far sight better than what happened at Guide.
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