Amidst the deafening sound of clanging steel is a camaraderie that is so amazing and found inside General Motors Powertrain plant in Bay City. Workers in this plant say that they don’t have any ill feelings toward the decision of GM to cut costs even if it means losing their jobs in the process. The workers in Bay City understand that the automaker is experiencing hard times and in order to keep the company afloat sacrifices has to be made.
According to Joe Delaney, age 59 and works as a technician in the Northstar Camshafts Department of Bay City, “I think that everybody’s working a little bit harder.” Delaney has spent 38 years working for GM and he has witnessed the layoffs that occurred in his department. Almost 330 plant workers last year have agreed to accept the incentives to retire through the companywide attribution program offered by GM.
General Motors has brought in new trainees in place of the laid off workers. These trainees come from other GM plants such as its plant in Delphi while others were recalled from layoff. Despite the addition of trainees the plant’s workforce still dropped by about 670 combining blue and white collar workers.
Delaney further stated that workers have realized that cuts are important for General Motors to get back on track. Ed Duby, Camshaft Business Team Manager have also agreed by saying that workers has somewhat gained a new sense of ownership in the plant by helping decisions that would cope with change. Duby also added that workers are part of a collective team striving to achieve a common goal of improving and setting the plant for future work. “I’m excited where we are right now. I think, in the next two years, people are going to be jumping on GM’s bandwagon.”
The remarkable improvement that General Motors is developing with its workers simply shows the degree of professional maturity that both workers and the automaker has achieved which if we are to compare with GM products is likened to the astounding progress that the automaker has achieved in terms of its new generation GM fuel tanks.
By: Noah Scott