Endangered Species: US Auto Worker

It’s no secret that the big-three of American auto, Ford, GM, and Chrysler, are in bad shape. They are losing market share to the foreign auto makers, and as a result having to restructure their businesses. How has this impacted the blue-collar American autoworker? Ford has already begun closing plants which will eliminate thousands of jobs. GM has snnounced as many as 30,000 jobs to be shed. Michigan factories now employ 79,000 less workers then they did just ten years ago. The Lorain plant, where the Torino and other classics were born, is was shut down in December. As many as ten more are suspected to follow. A drive by the Wixom plant shows the problem – row upon row of brand-new Lincoln Town Car sedans, hundreds in all, sit with snow on their roofs, waiting to be shipped to buyers who are nowhere to be found. This plant is now down to one shift per day. Similar situations exists at the Ford plant in St.Paul.

With tens of thousands of factory workers losing their only livelihood there is even a bigger crisis looming. Should the US automakers ever rebound – and eventually they will – who will be around to work in the factories? Many of today’s blue collar auto workers come from a long lineage in the auto industry. However clearly the workers of today, as they raise their own young families, are not so positive about passing on their line of work to their children. In an article by the Detroit Free Press about this very topic, Ryan Daleo said he was meant to work on cars and trucks. Five years ago, he started with Ford, where his great-grandfather first worked in the 1940s. However he said he’s already thinking about the future for his daughters, ages 3 and 6. He wants them to go to college, something he did not do, so they can get better jobs and have more options. “I want them to do something different. I don’t want them working there and going through what I’m going throug,” Daleo said.

Read the excellent Detroit Free Press series titled Driven Away and give us your comments.