The Buy Out Option

Jeannie Neuman

45 Devonshire Rd.                                                                  810 Words

Pleasant Ridge  MI    48069                                                   

586-419-1314 (cell-phone)

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                                                        The Buy Out Option



                                                                         



                                                                  By



                                                          Jeanne Neuman



    Dave Defour sat at the kitchen table enjoying his last cup of coffee before heading off



to his job at the Chrysler plant in Sterling Heights MI.  He seemed quiet and pensive as I



began to deliver the questions on my mind.  I wanted to know how his life was being



affected by all the problems Chrysler is dealing with.  What was the reason he



opted for the buy out? 



    After a couple questions, I could see a change come over him. 



    “Of course, I’m concerned,” he said.  “It feels like they are playing head games with



us, and, the union is keeping quiet about what is going on.” 

    Dave had been planning on taking a buy out this year, but, now he feels pressured to do so now..  Even though his income will decrease more than 50%, Dave worries what will happen if he stays and Chrysler does go under.  He is already concerned that his medical insurance won’t be there.  He has worked at Chrysler for 37 years with the promise of a good retirement with medical insurance benefits but now his future in unsure.

    Dave is concerned about his co-workers too.

    “How can they expect people to take up to a sixteen dollar an hour pay cut?  Most

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people would loose their house if they had to take a five dollar an hour pay cut! 

You hear all about those executives and their multi-million dollar salaries.  How many millions of dollars does one person need anyway?” Dave said, his voice getting a little louder.

    Dave and his wife Debbie have always planned to retire up north.  They bought some acreage in Beaverton some years ago and planned to have a house built there.  The early retirement will make that difficult in the near future.  The reduced income is only part of the reason.  The flood of Michigan properties onto the market teamed with lower selling prices will make it even harder for them to achieve their dream.

    “We still had a lot of equity when we refinanced this house a few years ago,” Debbie said.  “Now we won’t be able to sell it for a profit.  Who knows how long it will take for the real estate market to rebound.”



    Dave just smiled when I asked him what he was going to do with all that free time.

    “Rest,” he said.  “I have been working hard for a long time and I am getting tired.”

    Dave and Debbie have a son and daughter who have already moved to Beaverton.  At least they will be able to see them more often now.

    “Even that won’t be easy,” Debbie said, “with the price of gas on top of everything else.”

    Dave has had second thoughts about leaving now due to all of the changes that will come with it.  It was a tough decision.  Finally, he got the call from the company telling him when his last day would be. This would be around the 9th of March, 2008.



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    “Oh yeah!” Dave said.  “I was happy. But, a couple of days later I got the call from the union steward.”

    The union steward told Dave that it was not going to happen.  He said that he had pulled the file and he would not be retiring.  .  If he retired, upper management wouldn’t be able to get the overtime. 

    Dave was angry.  He thought everything was all set.  You could tell how distraught he was as he told me his story.  He was frowning a little, and the glint in his eyes started fading.  It was hard enough for him to make this decision and now he had to continue working.  It was much harder for him to go on now. He thought he was done, and here he was going back to work.

    Dave did finally get his news that he would be signing the final papers.  He Will be finished by the end of April this year..

    There is so much on the news about the problems the company is going through and what is going to be done about it.  You have solutions coming from officials that aren’t in the same situation and have no understanding of what it means to the individual worker.  The thing is that if these companies don’t survive, there will be a lot of people out of work.  Some will have to change their retirement plans and some will loose their homes.  It will be just as devastating to the whole country as it is to the individual workers of the

auto industry.  Government officials and executives need to look at the whole picture before they can come up with a viable solution.