Decided to Start This One Again!

I had totally forgotten that I even started this blog! Well, the good times kept up as far as the good paychecks was concerned. Our Toyota lines were really working long hours and I guess that seemed t cause most of us to ignore the fact that the monthly meetings had stopped and there were no more employee of the month awards. The quarterly bonuses dwindled and soon were forgotten.

The first thing I noticed was men and women in business suits who would stand in the isle, talking in low voices and watching you work. We were told they were from Delphi and that they were deciding which lines to keep and which ones to replace with new ones. Sure enough, some went out and some new ones came in.

The second thing I noticed was that the owner was never around anymore. When I first started he was often seen talking to workers on one line or another. If there were any serious problems he was right there to make sure they were resolved. But slowly we saw less and less of him- and more and more of the strangers in business suits.

By the end of October 2006 it was evident that things were not what they seemed. We often didn't have the material we needed to put the parts together. A lot of the machines didn't run for weeks at a time. And then it happened... mid November we were all gathered together at the beginning of our shift and told the shop would be closing in May of 2007. I think he actually shed a tear or two when he broke the news to us. We were not surprised I think in the back of our minds we had known it was coming. Our lives would never be the same!