Post By Dan Cummings - Let's not underestimate how large a decision looms in the coming week at New Process Gear. Roughly 2500 members of the United Auto Workers will vote Wednesday and Thursday on their futures, and the future of the DeWitt factory. Magna and the UAW have reached tentative agreement on a contract that slashes hourly wages by nearly a third, a blow softened somewhat by yearly cash "buydown" payments. Magna says it needs this contract and tens of millions in state and federal aid to keep the plant open and competitive. Hundreds of "legacy" workers are almost certain to exercise their own options and leave the plant, anyway...taking buyouts, retiring, or "flowing back" to Chrysler.
Magna's president has written the employees directly, apologizing for past mistakes in running the plant, and urging the union members to "trust and support" the company and this new agreement. Many workers remain skeptical, even when Magna says it guarantees a 40 million dollar investment this year, on top of the 108 million Magna dollars funding those "buydown" payments. More investment, new contracts, and a future beyond the new 4-year contract are also on the horizon, says Magna, if workers will "trust and support" the new agreement, the new plan for stability and growth.
I've heard from a number of NPG workers who've heard promises before from Magna, and lived to see those promises broken. They say when Magna bought the plant a few years ago, the company promised Chrysler wages through 2011. That's not happening. They say Magna spoke confidenty of large-scale investments in the plant, and those investments did not all materialize.
Magna president Greg Deveson is very much aware of the trust factor. He knows he has to earn it back.
I've also heard from a number of union members who say the new contract must be approved, to give THEM a chance to keep making a living, regardless of what the Chrysler legacy workers decide about their own futures between now and mid-March. That, even with the wage concessions, the new deal still carries one of the best paychecks, if not the best, of any Central New York industrial employer. That no independent auto parts supplier in the country pays more than Magna is now offering. That faced with a plant closing as the only other option, the UAW Bargaining Committee did a remarkable job in securing these terms and conditions in a new, 4-year contract. And, that for the moment at least...they're willing to take a deep breath, say a prayer and take Magna at its word: that with lower labor costs, new investment to secure new contracts...and significant help from Albany and Washington, there's a good chance New Process Gear can once again be profitable.
There's no question Central New York will be worse off, should New Process Gear close. But that question will not be settled by those of us on the outside looking in. It will be settled by the 2500 families who must take the next several days to learn the details of their new contract, ask every question and have those questions answered...think, talk among themselves, look at their futures and the options now being offered...and vote. The decision belongs to the brotherhood and sisterhood of the United Auto Workers in Locals 624 and 2149.
I wish them wisdom and I wish them well.
