RECOVERY: A way of life fades away as wages fall

[Charles Brown <cbrown@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

ELECTION 2004 THE JOYLESS RECOVERY: A way of life fades away as wages fall


Michigan struggles with big job losses; political clout erodes



September 7, 2004

BY JOHN GALLAGHER
FREE PRESS BUSINESS WRITER

Second in a series.

Antwain Standifer, Howard Scott and Melvin Dancy walked a picket line in
Royal Oak last week to protect a storied way of life fading away for many
Michiganders.

That life involves a working-class job with middle-class pay and benefits,
good enough to afford a place Up North, a fishing boat in the garage, and
trips to Las Vegas, the Grand Canyon or Disney World.

All across Michigan, that sort of life is threatened by wages that are
flatlining or declining -- and experts disagree on what to do about it.

At the very least, wage growth in Michigan has been lagging behind most
other states for decades. In 1969, Michigan's median household income was 18
percent above the national average. By 2003 the figure was less than 4
percent above the national average and still dropping, according to the U.S.
Census Bureau.

There are many reasons Michiganders have been losing out. Of course, tens of
thousands of high-paying manufacturing and white-collar jobs have been
eliminated as Detroit's automakers lost sales and market share to foreign
competitors. But even workers who still have jobs are under pressure to
accept minimal raises, or even pay cuts, as cost-conscious employers
struggle with competitors around the globe.

Paychecks usually grow as the economy expands after a recession, and that's
why some economists have dubbed this a "joyless recovery," which it has
certainly become for Standifer, Scott and Dancy.

Their employer, Deco Engineering, a mid-level auto supplier on Coolidge
Highway just north of 14 Mile, told its workers recently that it wants a
3-percent wage cut immediately with a freeze for the next two years, and it
wants the workers to agree to cuts in pensions and health-care coverage.
Those demands sent these men and about 150 others out to the picket line two
weeks ago.

"We understand that economic changes have come," Standifer said. "But all
we're asking is not to take what we've already earned. We've already said we
will take a pay freeze, no problem. A freeze on benefits, a freeze on
pension. But with the company, it's all or nothing."

Just steps away from the picket line, inside the Deco plant, Jim Connor, the
president of Newcor Inc., Deco's parent company, expresses sympathy for what
the workers are going through.

"I feel bad for these people," he said. "It's certainly not their fault.
They're hard workers. We've got a good facility here. But we've just got to
keep costs under control and be competitive."

It's not that business is all that bad. Diesel engines are selling well, so
the parts Deco produces -- like pressure plates and rocker arms -- are in
demand. It's that those parts can be made almost anywhere, and competitors
are always pushing prices down.

That's why Dancy asks a question that echoes from a thousand places in
Michigan that once supported a comfortable life for working-class people.

"What's the little guy to do?"


Falling behind
http://www.freep.com/money/business/jobs7e_20040907.htm