OK-GM Plant Closure Affects 13,300 Jobs In State

By Mike W. Ray
1/19/06
©2005 Oklahoma Publishing Today
All rights reserved

Shutdown of the General Motors plant in Oklahoma City will have a ripple effect that directly or indirectly costs several thousand workers throughout Oklahoma their jobs, the governing board of the Career and Technology Education Department was informed Thursday.

"This has turned into a much bigger issue" than initially was envisioned, said Dr. Phil Berkenbile, director of the department. He said an economist at Oklahoma State University, Mark Snead, calculated that 13,300 jobs across the state are jeopardized by the plant closure.

Data supplied by GM showed that workers have commuted to the plant not only from the Oklahoma City metropolitan area but also from as far away as Stillwater, Eufaula, Omega and even Thackerville, Berkenbile said.

United Auto Workers contractual arrangements will provide many of the 2,400 workers at the plant with a relatively generous severance package, while others are expected to take early retirement.

The outlook for hundreds of employees of parts suppliers, though, is bleak.

Bob Carter, an extension agent for the Oklahoma Alliance for Manufacturing Excellence, said recently that a major manufacturer such as General Motors is supported by tiers of suppliers, or a supply chain that leads to the completed automobiles rolling off the production line. A big company prefers local supply networks to reduce overhead costs, he explained.

Several parts suppliers already are closing their doors and laying off workers, Berkenbile told the CareerTech board. According to the Oklahoma Employment Security Commission, closure of the GM plant, which is tentatively scheduled sometime next month, will touch at least 43 parts suppliers in Oklahoma.

Among them is a company in Ada that manufactures bumpers for GM and Jackie Cooper in Oklahoma City, which has a fleet of trucks that haul new GM vehicles to dealers, Berkenbile said. The Automotive Assistance Group of Johnson Controls Inc. has supplied seats and headliners for the Chevrolet Trailblazer and Envoy SUVs at its Oklahoma City plant. Another supplier is Collins & Aikman, which has a facility in Oklahoma City that assembles and sequences instrument panels - radios, air conditioners, face plates and the like - so GM workers can install the equipment in automobiles; Collins & Aikman also manufactures some of those parts.

The General Motors plant shutdown will impact "satellite" companies, too, Berkenbile said. For example, a convenience store "just down the road" from the GM plant intends to halve its payroll, from eight workers to four, he said, because of the loss of autoworkers who have been stopping at the store to buy coffee, soft drinks or gasoline.

CareerTech is one of several state agencies that are helping workers recover from the GM shutdown.

A job resource fair intended specifically to benefit employees of GM suppliers is scheduled Jan. 26 at the Coca-Cola Bricktown Event Center. The Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce and the CareerTech Department will underwrite the event, so there should be no cost to employers.

Richard McPherson, workforce services director for OESC, said a variety of companies are expected at the job fair, particularly from five "industry clusters": the aerospace, health care, energy and manufacturing industries, as well as representatives of transportation, distribution and logistics (TDL), "companies that move products, goods or services."

CareerTech personnel have taken laptop computers to several GM suppliers to help displaced workers write or update their resumes, Berkenbile said. Those companies include Johnson Controls, JCI, Link, LSI, plus Collins & Aikman. In addition, CareerTech has been assisting the UAW's Education Committee at the GM plant.

Communications and Marketing Director Paula Bowles noted that CareerTech also sponsors the Employee Assessment and Retraining Network. Coordinator Ron Duggins said the EARN program provides dislocated workers with guidance and assessment as well as skills training in many areas, including health, information technology, carpentry, manufacturing, truck driver training, computer applications and repair, emergency medical technician, electronics and air conditioning and refrigeration.

McPherson recently said three separate groups are working on issues related to the GM plant closure.

One group is a GM assistance team, which is focused on finding jobs, providing retraining and securing unemployment benefits for workers who will be separated from the vehicle manufacturer or from suppliers whose jobs will disappear in tandem with the shutdown of the plant. Another is Gov. Brad Henry's General Motors Task Force, which McPherson described as "an oversight group of high-level government officials." The third group is concentrating on the provision of social services for the workers who are expected to be jobless soon, McPherson said; the United Way has assumed the lead role in that group, he said.

McPherson said a "one-stop" center OESC plans to open in south Oklahoma City - where laid-off workers from GM and its suppliers can apply for unemployment benefits and job training and receive credit counseling, mental health counseling and other assistance - is expected to open its doors in February.

In a related matter, McPherson told the OESC that research indicates the GM workers are primarily interested in education and retraining, while the primary interest of employees of GM suppliers is securing new jobs.