Freightliner: Recalled worker knows what it's like 'out there'
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May 16, 2010 2:38 PM
Daniel Jackson
Chris Redding said he’s seen lots of workers come and go from the Freightliner truck manufacturing plant in Mount Holly since he started there in 1983; some were laid off and later recalled more than once.
With 27 years under his belt, Redding said he never worried about his job. He believed he would always have a job at the Freightliner plant — until last year when he was laid off for the first time.
Redding was one of the last to go, as part of a mass layoff in March 2009 that nearly closed the Mount Holly plant. Now the plant is ramping up again. And because of his seniority, Redding is also one of first to be recalled. He’s one of 119 laid off Freightliner employees returning to work May 24 after 14 months in limbo.
His spirits are high, but he said he’ll never take his job for granted again.
“It was a rude awakening,” Redding said. “I’d say 90 percent of our people thought we’d never go back … I had my doubts.”
Hundreds still hoping
And Redding said he hasn’t forgotten the hundreds of Mount Holly workers who are still out of work, who still have no health insurance, who still wonder what they’ll do when the unemployment benefits run out.
Since October 2008, more than 900 have been laid off from the Mount Holly truck plant. And hundreds more have been laid off from plants in Gastonia and Cleveland, N.C., as demand for big trucks faltered and parent-company Daimler Trucks North America shifted production to plants in Mexico. More than 13,000 Gaston County residents were unemployed in March.
“You feel good for yourself, but you also feel guilty for being called back when you look around the room and see the people you know are not in that 119; they’re not in that next 60 or the next 60. They’re on down the line and they’re struggling.”
At least 225 workers will return to work in Mount Holly between April and early July, DTNA officials confirmed Thursday. Production at the plant, currently at eight trucks a day, is scheduled to double June 1 and triple by Aug. 31, union officials said.
In a new labor contract ratified April 17, DTNA guaranteed baseline production of 24 M2 business class trucks per day before a plant in Santiago, Mexico, receives any orders for that model. As long as demand is steady, Redding said that provision should guarantee his job for the next three years.
Take nothing for granted
This time, Redding, who turned 48 years old a week ago, said he won’t wait for the contract deadline in April 2013 to prepare himself for a career change.
“I’m going to try to be as prepared for it as I possibly can,” he said. “You never know what the future holds.”
The area job market bled so many jobs in 2008 and 2009, local Freightliner workers had next to nothing to fall back on, Redding said. Still he searched for a job, holding out hope that he would eventually be recalled.
As time went on, Redding said his financial situation slowly deteriorated and before long he was selling vehicles and other prized possessions in an effort to hold onto his house. Redding said he is fortunate to have two hardworking children, a 17-year-old son and 21-year-old daughter, who both have jobs.
Last semester, Redding went back to school to learn about the latest automotive technology. Before he started at Freightliner, Redding said he was an auto mechanic, but passenger cars have changed a lot in 27 years. He also considered a job driving a big rig, but hated the idea of spending long periods of time on the road away from family.
Through all that uncertainty, Redding said he’s tried not to panic.
“It’s been tough,” he said. “You try to hold it back; try not to let people see what you’re wearing on your sleeve. … I’m still not out of the woods.”
Despite his return to Freightliner Mount Holly, Redding said he would continue to take classes at night, starting this fall.
Manufacturing relief
For his part, Redding said the new contract and the recalls have been a huge relief. He said he’s grateful to the union leadership and to his fellow workers for their support.
Redding said he hopes the Mount Holly plant is making trucks for many, many years to come. The recalls should have a positive ripple effect beyond the plant, generating new business for local companies that supply Freightliner with materials. And as hundreds of workers are placed back on the payroll, they’ll have more money to spend at local businesses.
After his recent experience, Redding said he’ll be spending his money on American-made products so others also return to work. As economists analyze job data — the numbers of jobs created or lost — each digit represents a person, maybe a whole family, with bills to pay and mouths to feed.
“I know what it’s like out there,” he said. |
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