Workers at Chrysler supplier to vote 3rd time on contract

Workers say the first two votes failed because they were lied to.

By Alex GaryROCKFORD REGISTER STAR BELVIDERE

Workers at TDS/US Automotive, BELVIDERE — Workers at TDS/US Automotive, the key company in the supply chain for the DaimlerChrysler assembly plant in Belvidere, will vote to-day for the third time on a contract proposal between the United Auto Workers Local 1268 and the company.
The first two votes, in March and late May, failed overwhelmingly.

Employee Brian Lawson, 33, of Belvidere, said the previous votes had been unsuccessful because most workers felt they were lied to. Lawson said most workers were told when they were hired that they’d be earning $13 to $15 an hour within months. In fact, the contracts they voted on in March and May peaked at $12.80 an hour for most workers.

“I have a wife and two kids and I was looking for a place I could retire from,” said Lawson, who left a silk-screening company in Loves Park last December to join TDS/US.
“I won’t be able to retire on what they are offer-ing.”

Wednesday night, the Rockford Register Star met with 15 TDS/US workers at CherryVale Mall. They all backed Lawson’s account of the discontent at the plant but would not join him in going on the rec-ord, saying they feared for their jobs.

The Register Star tried to contact three union officials and three TDS/US officials but none returned phone calls.

Lawson said workers have been told that if they don’t approve the contract, they’ll lose their jobs either directly or because DaimlerChrysler could cancel the contract.

Mike Aberlich, director of corporate communications for DaimlerChrysler, would not comment directly on whether TDS/US is in danger of losing its sequencing contract.

“We wouldn’t go into detail on what our specific discussions are with a supplier,” Aberlich said.
“I can say we are meeting our build (quota) at the plant, in both quality and levels of production. It takes the people at the on-site sequencing center to do that. I would say we are pleased with our relationship with TDS.”

Lawson said TDS has brought in more than 150 new workers in the last week and all are eligible to vote today. Employees who voted on the first two contracts think the company is rushing in the new workers to improve the odds of passing the contract proposal. They were less inclined to support the notion that the company needs the workers to fill a third shift to match the assembly plant’s third shift, which is scheduled to begin in late July.

Lawson said workers in May didn’t see what changes were negotiated from the March proposal until the day of the vote. He said workers have yet to see the changes in the newest proposal they will vote on today.

The Register Star was given a copy of the March contract. It called for process technicians — the workers who put the parts in order, known as sequencing — to be hired at $10.25 an hour and, if they stayed for the life of the five-year contract, to earn $12.30 an hour in 2010.

Material technicians — which include forklift drivers — would start at $10.50 an hour and advance to $12.80 by the end of the contract. Semitrailer-truck drivers would begin at $14.50 an hour and end at $17.65 by 2010.

Most workers at the plant are making $9.50 an hour except for the semi drivers, who are paid more.

Lawson said the May contract, which failed by nearly a 2-to-1 margin, was essentially the same as the March proposal.

According to the Illinois Department of Employment Security, the average wage for stock and material movers in Rockford is $14.15 an hour with experienced workers earning about $16.24 an hour. The average wage of semitrailer truck drivers in Boone and Winnebago counties is $16 an hour and $18.53 an hour for experienced drivers.

TDS/US Automotive is located in a 500,000-square-foot building adjacent to the Belvidere assembly plant. The Auburn Hills, Mich.-based company won the $200 million contract in 2005 to be a key component in the plant’s just-in-time supplier system.

TDS workers receive truckloads of parts and then put them in the correct sequence so that workers inside the DaimlerChrysler plant don’t have to search for parts.

This work used to be done within the plant. By hiring an outside company, DaimlerChrysler does not have to pay retirement packages or medical benefits.