Home / News & Publications / Michigan Catholic News / 2009 / As home of the auto industry, effects of the crisis are deepening
As home of the auto industry, effects of the crisis are deepening
by Robert Delaney and Kristin Lukowski of The Michigan Catholic
Published May 8, 2009
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Marylynn G. Hewitt, SFO | The Michigan Catholic
General Motors' Orion Assembly plant, in Orion Township, in Oakland County, is one of the plants expected to close by 2012. The Chevrolet Malibu and Pontiac G6 are made at the plant that employs about 2,700. |
Detroit - Many economic downturns have come and gone without having a major impact on St. Hugo of the Hills Parish, one of the wealthiest parishes in the Archdiocese of Detroit.
But not this time.
"I've never had a downturn affect us like this one. We have a lot of people who owned their own businesses who have lost those businesses, people who have lost their jobs. This time, it's hurting our school, hurting our parish," says Msgr. Anthony Tocco, pastor of the Bloomfield Hills parish.
While the focus of most attention has been on the Big Three American automakers - General Motors, Chrysler and Ford - the crisis is also affecting auto suppliers and dealers. St. Hugo numbers many executives of the automakers and their suppliers, as well as owners of auto dealerships, among its members.
With collections down, the parish has had to cut its budget "substantially" and lay people off. "We're struggling like everybody else," Msgr. Tocco says.
And the parish elementary school, which for many years had a waiting list, is down 45 students to 736.
"Enrollment is down, as some families have had to go outside Michigan for employment and others say they just can't afford it anymore and refused to accept tuition assistance," Msgr. Tocco explains.
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Robert Delaney | The Michigan Catholic
Chrysler's Warren Truck Assembly Plant makes its popular pick-up models. |
More layoffs,
more uncertainty
Some communities have been feeling the pain of the crisis in the auto industry and broader economy for much longer, and the continuing crisis just brings more layoffs and uncertainty.
Warren is home to several auto plants and General Motors' square-mile Technical Center complex. Many of its residents are - or were - employed by the automakers, and many auto company retirees continue to live in the community.
St. Mark Parish is among the Warren parishes with outreach programs, such as food pantries, trying to address the growing need for assistance.
"It just goes on and on. The toll it takes on families is tremendous, the pressure is non-stop, and it's tearing people apart," says Fr. Robert Ruedisueli, St. Mark's pastor.
For Bill Bachorski, a member of St. Edmund Parish, Warren, the current crisis hits home, as his late father worked for Chrysler and his grandmother and mother still rely on the pension. "We're all worried about our pension - their medical may be reduced," he said.
Although he had a cousin who tried to get him into the auto business, he decided to make his own way, and found himself unemployed anyway. He has a hard time with the government giving the banks bailout money and yet not helping people, he said.
Just north of Warren, Sterling Heights is another suburb where many residents owe their livelihoods to the auto industry, and where the pain of the deepening crisis is also being felt. Among the most recently announced changes, Chrysler's Sterling Heights Assembly Plant will be closing.
Fr. Randall Phillips, pastor of St. Blase Parish in Sterling Heights, characterizes the mood of his parishioners as "mostly one of apprehension and concern - I don't see despair or panic."
And as their pastor, "I share in their apprehension for their well-being," he adds.
Some families still employed by Chrysler are making sure they have all of their doctor and dentist appointments up to date while they still have benefits, Fr. Phillips says.
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Marylynn G. Hewitt, SFO | The Michigan Catholic
The headquarters for Chrysler LCC is in Auburn Hills. The automaker filed for bankruptcy April 30 and has reached an agreement to merge with Italian automaker Fiat. |
Parishioners who have lost their jobs are recommended to take advantage of the unemployment support group at nearby St. Michael Parish, also in Sterling Heights, but another concern is for retirees, he continues.
"These people retired with certain assumptions about what their benefits would be, and now these things are being taken away or being threatened," Fr. Phillips adds.
Ann Thomas, pastoral associate at Sacred Heart of the Hills Parish, Auburn Hills, said their location puts the Chrysler headquarters "practically right in our back yard." As a result, there are quite a few people at the parish employed at Chrysler's headquarters, and although she didn't know how many parishioners have lost their jobs, "we have parishioners who are very, very concerned," she said.
The parish doesn't have any support groups currently, although nearby St. Andrew has a support group, they have been overloaded as of recently; Sacred Heart's own active St. Vincent de Paul chapter has also seen increased demand.
"We've seen needs go up," Thomas said.
Generations are impacted
The impact of the auto industry crisis is felt across the Archdiocese of Detroit.
Working for the auto industry followed generations for the Darmanin family. Theresa Darmanin, 69, says her late husband Joseph worked for Chrysler as a machine repair man for more than 30 years before retiring in 1999.
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Kristin Lukowski | The Michigan Catholic
New Chevrolets in the lot of the Pontiac Assembly Plant in Pontiac, an area hard-hit by the automotive industry crisis. |
"I'm really upset about it," she says about the bankruptcy, "only because they worked so hard, the old timers, like my husband, to keep it going. They even took pay cuts and now everything is going downhill."
The member of Transfiguration Parish, Southfield, says the fear is "at my age I'd lose pension or health benefits. We have Blue Cross and pension and he did pay into it. At our age, it's so uncertain anymore." She says, "I pray that everything will go well, but who knows. I feel so sorry for the kids in college wondering what they are going to do."
Her daughter, Darnell Terese Velilla, 40, who lives in Oakland Township, took a buyout from General Motors Corp. three years ago. The member of St. Hugo of the Hills Parish, Bloomfield Hills, worked in the international management office supporting overseas offices and had a 1-year-old at the time.
"That was the last really basically great package that they offered," said Velilla. "Not that I would have known it. In hindsight it was really great that I took it." Now the mother of two with another on the way, she says the year of benefits was a help. "It's really scary, I think, mostly for my mom and other retirees and widows who will not be able to deal with it if health insurance is taken away. It's sad that people who worked there were so dedicated and loyal and are now suffering for what's going on."
"A wait-and-see attitude"
Marc Center, a member of St. Vincent Ferrar Parish, Madison Heights, started at the GM Institute in 1977 and has worked for them since he graduated. He is now a hybrid system engineer, and has survived layoffs so far, although one person of his formerly four-person team has been let go as part of a recent 10-percent workforce reduction that included pay cuts for those who stayed.
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Robert Delaney | The Michigan Catholic
The sign outside Chrysler's soon-to-close Sterling Heights Assembly Plant still reflects Chrysler's former relationship with Germany's Daimler AG. |
"People are putting their best face on," he said. "It's pretty much a wait-and-see attitude now."
He tries to pray with his family regularly, and his employment has been part of what is prayed for, he said. They also pray for the state and the country's economy, as well as for political leaders to make good decisions, and for people to get through the tough time.
At the same time, the family is keeping up its contributions to the church, and just received its Catholic Services Appeal envelope in the mail. He's kept with his commitment to tithe 10 percent from when he started full time 27 years ago, and although they may have a smaller house as a result of his frugal lifestyle, three of his children are in college currently and he's a little less worried about the economy.
"It's more important now than ever to not eliminate that portion of our giving," he said. "People know it's tough out there."
Reduction of dealerships
With General Motors' most recent reorganization plan including a huge reduction in the number of its dealerships, many of these mostly family-owned businesses are uncertain about their future.
"This is certainly a time one must rely on the bedrock of one's faith and trust in the Lord's providence," says Richard Genthe, president of Dick Genthe Chevrolet, the Southgate dealership founded by his grandfather in 1916.
"We wake up every day determined to do our best, and pray that we, in the end, will be one of the dealers chosen to continue," says Genthe, a member of St. Mary Student Parish in Ann Arbor.
He says he believes his dealership should measure well based on criteria such as sales performance, customer satisfaction, capitalization, profitability, access to capital and location, but adds, "No one can be absolutely confident."
Besides the next generation of his own family, 68 other families also derive their living from the business, Genthe points out.
For dealerships that lose their new-car franchise, all might not be lost, however. Genthe notes that each dealership is really a collection of several businesses - new car sales, used car sales, mechanical repair, body shop and auto parts sales - and says some may be able to continue on with what they have left.
"There's nothing else except God"
Chris King, an auto supplier from Rochester, N.Y. and a member of St. Joseph Parish in Penfield, just east of Rochester, was in town on business last week. Born in Detroit, he said there are few morals in the auto business - which, in fact, strengthens his faith because he has to have more confidence in God, he said. "You don't know where your next paycheck will come from," he said.
Kitty-corner from the former Truck & Bus plant on Opdyke Road in Pontiac, Carolyn Arafat, who helps with the family business M + K Liquor and a member of St. Thomas (Chaldean) Parish in Bloomfield Hills, said business has been down for a couple years, and she's not expecting it to pick up any time soon. To compensate, the family has cut down on some extras, and they try to remember that they are better off than many other people around the world who have much less.
"Every time you go through a crisis, there's nothing else except God," she said
Arafat's hopeful that a movie studio will be built in the old plant. The economy is on the minds of her customers, too, as that's often the subject of small talk as she rings them up. In the meantime, "we need to pray," she said - that the government makes good decisions, and that people recover.
- Michigan Catholic managing editor Marylynn G. Hewitt, SFO, contributed to this story.
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