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In America's partial democracy, workers don't get any say-so about getting or losing jobs. In the aerospace industry, where I worked, people saw layoffs as just part of their lives. But there were so many layoffs after "globalization" became such a popular term that a few government programs were invented to ease the pain. I'm not sure that anybody in the aerospace industry realized that extra benefits were available, but Elaine did.
In 1993, Elaine did the research to show that layoff victims in the aerospace industry, specifically from our own UAW Local 848 jobs, could get a lot more benefits than the 26-weeks of unemployment allowed by the state. We wrote up Elaine's research and brought it to the union, where it was still sitting when union elections took place. I tried to make it an issue in the union election.
On the first day that the new president, Mike Hall, took office, he called me in and asked if there was actually any plan to help the hundreds of people losing their jobs. "It's laying on your desk," I told him. He rummaged around and found Elaine's research. Then and there, he called the right people to initiate the WARN act. That set the rest of it in motion.
I didn't get to head up the committee to get the extra benefits. James Ducker headed the committee. John Jarzabski and I were the only two other members. But we demanded everything that people could get. I also started writing a lot about it in union publications and, to an extent, in things the company agreed to. I always called the layoff victims "victims," which always irritated management. "What do you want to call them, winners?" I would ask. I also initiated and carried out regular meetings for layoff victims to help guide them through the processes. A lot of them signed up for classes in air conditioning repair, truck driving, and, I think it was only one guy, aerospace engineering.
I remember that we bought $10 grocery certificates from the only union chain, Krogers. Everybody who attended my meetings got a certificate. At that time, it was enough to buy a turkey. Out of my own pocket, I bought cheap hamburgers for the meeting participants. Hundreds of layoff victims benefited from the program, but only 10-12 regularly attended the meetings. Instead of 26 weeks, some of them got 2 years of unemployment benefits!
As far as I could find out, our program at UAW 848 was the first in the industry.
Years later, during another spasm of layoffs, the local carried out the entire program without any input from me. In fact, I think my pioneering role has been completely forgotten. I'm pretty sure that management warned the union to keep me away from it. But I'm crazy proud of Elaine and myself.
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