By Joanne Bailey-Boorsma
joanne@wktv.org
Donte Granison, of Wyoming, easily admits that being part of the GM family was just in his blood, after all he comes from a family of GM workers.
“It was just something that was rooted in me,” Granison said. “I just felt I needed to try it at least.”
So he left his $20-plus an hour job at Steelcase to work at Wyoming’s GM Components Holdings as a temporary worker making $15.62.
“It was tough but I live with my fiancé, who also works, so we are able to split the bills,” Granison said.
Chad Fox, of Grand Rapids, had no interest in returning to the auto industry. He had been on the bargaining team that had to negotiate the closing of a Lear Corp plant, so Fox admitted he had just moved on.
But friends and colleagues encouraged Fox to return, so he too joined the ranks of the temporary employees at the GM Components Holdings.
“It took longer than it should,” said Fox of his finally becoming a full-time GM employee. “I really didn’t think it would take that long because at first they took 50 but then the numbers started shrinking to 10, then 6, then 4.”
With no guarantee on when they might get hired in as full-time employees, both Granison and Fox worked as many hours as they could to make ends meet. Granison said he worked 12 hours a day, juggling family responsibilities and schedules with his fiancé.
“She works in the evening, so I was able to add a couple of hours before I had to be home,” Granison said. “It’s a lot of coming and going and working on weekends, but you do what you have to survive.”
“I was working seven days a week, 12 hours a day,” Fox said. “There were weeks that I would put in 78 hours but most of the time it was 65-75 hours a week.”
After waiting a year to be hired in, Granison said he only received an .82 per hour raise, bringing his hourly wage to just more than half the estimated livable hourly wage that a family of four in Kent County needs, according to the United Way’s ALICE (Asset-Limited, Income-Constrained, Employed, Simply) According to ALICE, for Kent County, the needed livable hourly wage is $32.39 for a family of four. It is $10.81 for a single adult.
For the past four weeks, both men have been surviving on $250 in strike pay, about 38 percent of their weekly salary, which Donate said has helped to cover the basics, food, shelter, etc.
“My daughter was doing gymnastics which was $70 and we had to cut that out,” Donate said. “We also had one in band, learning different instruments and one in swimming, which was $60-$70, but we can’t afford that right now.”
On Oct. 13, the UAW increased strike pay to $275 per week — workers at the GM Components Holdings receive the strike pay if they walk the line at least one-day a week — and allowed for strikers to get part-time jobs that would not have any impact on their strike pay. Before, workers receiving $250 a week in strike pay and could not receive more in part-time pay than the strike pay amount.
The relief from UAW about part-time work comes as good news for both Fox and Granison. Both men have considered part-time work especially if the strike continues.
There was more good news as according to reports GM and the UAW have been working intensely in negotiations with numerous UAW leaders called to meet in Detroit on Thursday. GM officials have stated that “We continue to negotiate and change proposals, and it remains our goal to reach an agreement that builds a stronger future for our employees and our company.” For more information, visit the company’s website, buildingastrongerfuture.gm.com.
