Michele Barks clearly remembers her first day of work at GM’s Delta Township plant near Lansing, Michigan back in January.
“It was snowing heavily and 11 degrees and I froze,” says Barks.
Snow and cold temperatures are part of the adjustment for some 480 former Tennesseans who moved north to keep their GM jobs. As part of the massive re-tooling of the automaker, GM has to make some difficult decisions on how to emerge from bankruptcy as more efficient company.
That meant cutting plants. So, the Springhill Plant had to go. The Delta operation was already making two crossovers…the Buick Enclave and the GMC Acadia. GM managers decided moving another ‘sister vehicle’…the Chevy Traverse…to Lansing from Springhill would save the company money. Delta would add and add a third shift. And even though the move shuttered a GM plant…the UAW bought in to the plan.
“I think the new GM business model makes sense,” says Local 602 president Brian Fredline, “you don’t have five plants building the same product, you have one plant on three shifts building the same product. That reduces your overhead and it increases your profitability.”
Thanks to the federal ‘Cash for Clunkers’ and a recent uptick in the US economy, GM dealerships need more vehicles which looms as an indicator that the Delta plant is positioned well to keep all three shifts running.
“We’re seeing a little bit of recovery in the industry right now,” says Mark Reuss president of GM, “but more importantly we’re seeing unpredicted demand in popularity for our vehicles which is a really good sign.”
For the newbies at the Delta plant…making the move from Tennessee wasn’t easy…and the sometimes bitter Winter weather has taken some getting used to…but for Michele Barks knowing there’s a paycheck each week makes the adjustment easier to take.
Says Barks, “Right now, I’m just happy to have a job and I really don’t care what shift I work. I don’t prefer third shift but I’m just glad to be here and be working. That’s the main thing.”