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

By Amy Joyce
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, February 14, 2006

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.

"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.

"People are in denial," said David Winters, Rex's co-worker who joined her on the picket line.

Most production workers at the Big Three make about $27.50 an hour, while most skilled workers make about $32 an hour.

The union's membership peaked in the 1970s at 1.5 million. As of 2004, it was less than 700,000. GM and Ford Motor Co. have announced staff reductions, while nonunion foreign automakers, such as Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co., where wages and benefits are generally lower, are planning to hire more workers.

Delphi was once part of GM but was spun off as a stand-alone company in 1999. The deal was supposed to allow GM to refocus on designing and assembling cars and trucks while Delphi would focus on making parts. But since 2000, Delphi has struggled to make a profit, accumulating $5.5 billion in losses since 2000. Miller has said the loss is due to its labor costs, which have become particularly onerous as the number of auto-parts factories in countries with cheap labor has been increasing. Also, Delphi has been squeezed as GM has cut back production.

Last year, Delphi filed for bankruptcy protection. At first, Miller said he wanted to cut pay and benefits from about $27 an hour to $9.50, though he has since backed down from that proposal.

For Rex, such a cut would end what she describes as a "Cinderella story." Entering the auto workforce was a turning point in her life. She was so emotional when she got her first Delphi paycheck -- for $910.12 -- that she ran into a bathroom at work, shut herself in a stall and cried.

In the early days at Delphi, Rex often worked 11 a.m. to 1 a.m., jumping at the chance to work overtime. She currently works as a welder, handling three or four machines from 2 to 10 p.m. Her job is to create parts that are then sent to the assembly line, where they are turned into steering columns. She is on her feet the entire shift, wearing earplugs to drown out the loud noises. She gets two quick breaks and a half-hour for lunch.

But life at the plant has been different lately. Rex's co-workers are less chatty during breaks. They are pensive and are picking up as much overtime as they can. Recently, Rex was laid off for a week -- not entirely uncommon when production changes occur. But usually, workers with seniority take the temporary layoffs. This time, they didn't. They are too afraid it will become permanent, Rex said.

Rex, 51, earns $27 an hour and had assumed she'd be making at least that much until age 65, when she had long expected to retire on a comfortable pension of $1,064.00 a month.

Now she and her husband are preparing for the tough news they know is coming. "I understand that we may have to make some concessions, and I'm not opposed to that," Rex said. She just hopes the cuts are not so drastic that she loses her job or has to leave because it doesn't pay enough.

She said she and her husband are eating out less, delaying the purchase of a new car and cutting back on things such as treats for their grandchildren. They have also reduced the amount they are putting into their retirement accounts to 5 percent of their pay from 15 percent. The rest of the money is going into checking and savings accounts in case they need the cash. They have paid their monthly $1,500 mortgage for the next three months.

Rex says that if she does have to leave Delphi, "I'm going to be devastated."

But she added that her job at Delphi "enabled me to have a life I never would have had," she said.

"The way I look at it, I have been blessed with five wonderful years. There are people that work all their life and never had that opportunity."