Her 'Cinderella Story'

Finding Work at Delphi Changed Her Life, but That Job Is Now at Risk

Delphi Corp. welder Betty Jo Rex dreamed of working in the auto industry and entering the middle class. As suddenly as those dreams were fulfilled, she faces losing them. (By Gary Malerba For The Washington Post)

Betty Jo Rex said she earned $1 an hour as a teenager working in the tobacco fields of North Carolina and only slightly more as a teacher's aide in Virginia. When she moved on to Flint, Mich., in search of better pay, she spent years pasting together a living by cooking at a hospital, cleaning homes and selling vitamins.

But Rex had a vision for entering the ranks of the middle class -- a job in the auto industry, whose strong unionized workforce had made autoworkers some of the best-paid manufacturing employees in America. And in 2000, after two decades in Flint trying to find a position in the auto industry, she was hired by Delphi Corp., which makes parts for General Motors Corp.

The new job changed her life. Rex, who was then 46, was suddenly making $15.33 an hour. The pay, with overtime, was more than double her previous annual income. For the first time, she had a pension and health benefits. Rex and her husband, Harold, who is a hospital technician, moved to a bigger house, bought a new Saturn and took a once unfathomable vacation to Hawaii.

Now just as quickly as it came, Rex's middle-class lifestyle appears to be slipping away. U.S. automakers have been losing business and are trying to rapidly shed costs. Delphi has filed for bankruptcy protection. Workers there and throughout the auto industry have been asked to consider reductions in pay and benefits.

"I got really lucky. And then all of a sudden, it's just all going to get taken away. After all this," Rex said.

Rex's future may become a bit clearer on Friday. If the United Auto Workers and Delphi have not agreed on job cuts by then, Delphi chief executive Robert S. Miller Jr. is expected to ask the bankruptcy court to void Delphi's labor contract.

Delphi workers might go on strike, though most workers so far have seemed reluctant to take strong actions, given the weak state of the auto industry and the presence of tough nonunion foreign competitors, according to Gary Chaison, professor of industrial relations at Clark University in Worcester, Mass.

Delphi hourly workers Jeff Weslock, left, and Ron Rivett Jr. protest outside the North American International Auto Show held in Detroit in January. Workers spoke out against cuts in wages, health benefits and pensions for workers in the automotive industry.

"They feel there will be jobs lost and they will be unprotected," he said. "The rest of the sector is largely nonunion. So they're looking at the possibility that their next job will probably be a nonunion job with much less wages and benefits."

Nissan North America Inc., for instance, said this month that it will stop offering comprehensive medical coverage for retirees in its manufacturing division in favor of an annual stipend, in an effort to save money.

"They don't want to ruin a good thing, but at the same time, they don't want to lose a good thing," Chaison said.

A dissident group within the UAW, Soldiers of Solidarity, or SOS, organized a protest at the annual auto show in Detroit in January to raise concerns about how much might be lost through concessions.

Rex joined the effort along with about 300 other members. But SOS has attracted only tepid support from the rank and file.