Chrysler workers say morale is at an all time low……………….                                          Dec 16, 2009

Blame it on the economy, blame it on the bailout, one can even blame it on Fiat or the President. The fact remains that after talking to Chrysler workers from plants in and around Detroit they have no clue as to what their owners are doing. After the quick bankruptcy Chrysler went through workers were gathered at various plants to learn their futures. Sterling Assembly closing, St. Louis Assembly closing with all their production moving to Warren Truck Assembly….Should make the workers at Warren Truck happy right? Not so fast, workers have told Auto Workers of America that they still fear for their jobs, jobs are being eliminated at an alarming rate, jobs are being doubled up and more is to come. “They have made a decision to make it so hard on us workers making $28.05 an hour for one reason only, to move us out the door for less wage workers” said one worker who ask not to be called by name. Another worker responded “They started this World Class Manufacturing concept and expect us to grab it while management is the same ole management which makes World Class manufacturing just another name in a long line of names that have been brought forward in the past to save the company”. World Class Manufacturing is a concept Fiat brought over to empower the workers more to take a more hands on approach to making his or her plant work.

WCM …..WCM or World Class manufacturing has Team Leaders basically running the lines with only a few Supervisors on line. They were divided into groups of 6-8 workers running their own group. That already has changed groups have been combined to nearly double up a Team Leaders Duty making it difficult to keep things running smoothly. Supervisor discipline has soured because of this, in fairness the local job market has also contributed to this surge in bad quality. A worker we will call Sam says… if people only knew how much repair they do on trucks to get them to the Quality we want they would be amazed. Sam went on to say This WCM as they put it only works if everyone is on board, I work afternoons at Warren Truck (in Warren, Michigan) and we were told transparency would be there for us all to see but nobody is held accountable. Sam told me Management has not come on board the WCM train and never will. They (management) keep saying it starts with you guys and our butts are out of here starting with me if we don’t get to this level, yet everything we try to do they shoot down. A worker at Trenton Engine told AWA (Auto Workers of America) “Look we gave up a lot, people don’t understand that. They think we still make all this money but cost of living gone, bonus gone, raises gone, hell they even took our Christmas bonus which was only $600.00, we can’t even go on strike until 2015”. Workers feel they are alone to fight this battle. They feel the Union has betrayed them instilling fear to get them to approve the cuts and now a lot of workers feel it’s a conflict of interest to have someone represent you in battles with management and own 60% of the company. It is now in their best interest to get payroll down by getting rid of higher paid jobs for the new lower paid workers.

Arrogance of Management…..Management knows they have workers right where they want them and that is why many workers feel it’s not a team effort when WCM comes into play. I talked to a skilled trade person worker who was demoted back to the floor, and he said “I’m sure I speak for all of us that this has happened to. They (Fiat) wants us gone so Supervisors have been instructed to give us the hardest jobs possible to move us out and it’s worked. This skilled trade man told me several have taken the buyout after trying job after job at what they call Cell Block A. They say they want us all happy and come to work and build a great truck but we can’t do that when ever time we try we get shot in the back by an afternoon plant manager who gets enjoyment out of us suffering. Harsh words coming out of workers who feel lost and unrepresented. They can build a great Truck I have seen it in the worst of times but the time has come for both sides to realize there is no sides just everyone getting to a common goal…To Be the Best at what they do, Build Trucks.

Morale and how it makes or breaks a business….morale being at an all-time low in Chrysler Plants makes it hard for Fiat CEO Serge Marchionne to implement his plan or turnabout. Management must show workers it’s not just about quantity; it’s also about quality and working together to achieve the same goal to make Chrysler a World Class Manufacturer. Building morale is one key ingredient. Yes you need a strong economy, good products, and good leadership. Something is wrong when you drop from 450,000 ram trucks sold in its heyday to barely over 175,000 today. Right now its breaking so management take the warning of your own words. Let’s do this or it’s our butt starting with mine. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

John Doee Chief Writer for this Blog