WARREN – It was a bittersweet time for former Delphi employees who gathered Friday afternoon at Plant 8 of the former Packard Electric industrial complex on Griswold Street.

The quiet stillness was a stark contrast from the decades of activity they recalled had once dominated that area north of downtown Warren and sent waves of economic prosperity to other parts of Trumbull County.

“There were so many people,” said Bruce Gump of Howland. “Lunchtime was buzzing. The businesses were packed with people coming and going. When the company went down, the whole area spiraled down with it. It’s never been the same.”

Thursday marks the 10th anniversary of the day former Delphi employees and other area residents likely won’t let slip by without glancing back.

On Oct. 8, 2005, after years of standing as one of Trumbull County’s top employers, Delphi filed for bankruptcy.

The Beginnings

Packard Electric Co. went through several transitions in the years after forming in Warren in 1890. The company that initially produced incandescent light bulbs branched out to the automobile industry, building the first Packard motor car in 1899.

Packard Motor Car Co. was split off from Packard Electric in 1902 and Packard Electric began focusing more of its business on automotive components.

In 1932, Packard Electric became part of General Motors. By the 1980s, it was the industry’s leading producer of wire harnesses and other electrical automotive components. In 1995, it became part of Delphi Automotive Systems. In 1999, Delphi was spun off from GM to become a separate company – a move Gump and other former employees have said was the beginning of the end.

“It really is hard to put into words, we were all part of General Motors and we did our best to make GM successful,” said Gump. “There were bad business choices, bad decisions, they screwed up so badly they couldn’t fix it, so they spun us off, called it a separate corporation. It was horrible and resulted in thousands of people being harmed by them. For many people, families, it was a big part of who they were.”

Family Tradition

It wasn’t unusual for multiple family members to work at Delphi.

Michelle Hyder grew up watching her parents going to and from Packard Electric Co. each day. Her mom worked the day shift, her dad the night.

Hyder didn’t see her future any differently.

“My parents both retired from there so I figured that’s what I would do,” said Hyder of Niles. “I saw myself doing the same thing.”

Hyder, a Brookfield High School graduate, was 33 when she started working for the company in 2001. She said “quite a few” of her classmates had family who worked there.

By then, Packard Electric already had become part of Delphi Automotive Systems.

But because Hyder was a newer employee, she experienced a more “unstable” environment at Delphi than her parents had when it was still Packard.

“I was laid off quite a bit. I was laid off two or three times. I think the longest time was that first time. I did good for a while, working steady. But then another layoff came a couple months later.”

Hyder said the final time she was “furloughed” she actually joined others at the company’s job bank. The job bank, as designated in the labor contract, required employees who would otherwise be laid off to report to work as usual. But they were assigned to the fourth floor of Plant 8 , where they spent their shift “hanging out,” reading and watching TV.

“They didn’t have enough work for us, but they couldn’t lay us off, so they paid our regular wages. That wasn’t so bad for you as a person because you still had an income. But you knew it wasn’t good. You knew things were changing and not for the better.

“When times were good, it was really good. It was a great place to work. But when they went bad, it went really bad and it got bad really quick. The ones with lowest seniority really started to panic. We most likely were not going to make the cut,” Hyder said.

Eventually, Hyder got her three-day notice. Her last day at the company was in December 2006.

“It really was one of the best companies to work for. I always thought it would bounce back. I think a lot of us did. Hey, we all need cars. Right? We all drive cars. It’s still hard sometimes to think about, to understand, how it all went down.”

Hyder said her mom officially retired from Packard; her dad from Delphi.

For Nick Dragojevic of Cortland, working at Delphi was the only real job he knew. He started working there in 1972 and had 34-plus years in when he retired.

Dragojevic, a Warren Reserve High School graduate, was among three siblings who worked for the company at the same time. His one sister joined the company in 1969 right out of high school. Another sister started working at Packard after he referred her to the position.

“When I graduated from high school in 1971, you could go to GM, work in the steel industry or go to Packard,” he said. My dad was a steelworker and said I wouldn’t want any part of that. I had worked at a theater downtown making a dollar an hour. So, I went to Packard making $5.12 an hour when I started. I didn’t have any regrets. It was a great place to work … the pay, the benefits were excellent. I think all of Trumbull County was depending on it.

“But then it started going rough. That was in the early 80s when they tried negotiating lower wages. I know the spinoff from GM was crucial and that was the actual downfall, when the ball really started rolling. But I think there were things going on earlier that we saw the impact of later on.”

Dragojevic said he was 53 when when the company officially “booted” him out.

“They gave us two two choices. We could stay there and lose our wage rate, but we didn’t know what the new wage rate would be,” he said.

Some workers stayed and transitioned to lower wage rates, but others like Dragojevic left.

The Standard

Pat Takacs joined her husband, Paul, at Packard in 1994. He started there some 20 years earlier.

Paul Takacs was able to retire after 35 years. Pat Takacs accepted the buyout, leaving after 13 years.

“My perspective comes from those hired in the 1990s,” she said. “Paul’s comes from those hired in the 70s. When he started, he was young like a lot of people at the time, going straight there right out of high school. I think there were like 14,000 people working there at the time. That’s massive.”

She said she worked with people who had gone to other companies in Warren, but they all said they liked working at Packard.

“Typically, when they got there, that’s where they stayed,” she said. “There were opportunities there. You got what you wanted to take out of the system. Paul saw those opportunities. I think we all did.

Pat Takacs had been an LPN before going to Packard. She made the move because of the promise of good pay and better benefits, including a retirement package.

“You had to work for it though,” she said. “Even then though they had shut down, or were in the process of shutting down, some satellite plants so everyone was in process of coming back to the main plant. Times were already changing,” she said.

Still, employees focused on quality.

“There was a standard and it was to work toward excellence. There was only one bad part per a million parts made,” she said. “Now we watch TV and see all the recalls … airbags, sensors, ignitions and you have to ask ‘where’s your quality control? Look what’s happened.’

“We were proud of our work and proud to work at Packard. It was a loss. But it is what it is. It happened. It’s like a major death in your life. You had to mourn it and get over it. Unfortunately, some people are still in limbo. It wasn’t just the employees. It impacted people profoundly, the entire community, our way of life, the money employees spent, going out to dinner, buying from local businesses, benefiting the whole area. We made a major contribution to the United Way and did a lot of good for a lot of people. Things are different now. Ten years later, you look back and think wow. And you face the facts,” Takacs said.

Gump said the company was just beginning to think about expanding operations to Mississippi and Mexico when he joined the near 14,000 people who already worked at Delphi Packard in 1976.

“We were a global supplier from Ohio,” Gump said. “We were really something. We were one of the best if not the best auto wiring suppliers in the world. We had a great culture. We created a culture at Packard that we all lived up to, certain expectations of how we worked and interacted with each other, with our customers. That excellence was interspersed with everything we did. I was proud to work there.”

Aftermath

For the Takacs and other employees, one result has been adjusting to pensions that are lesser amounts than they planned, or banked on. Another is health care.

“For 10 years it’s been one hurdle after another,” Pat Takacs said. “Right before the bankruptcy was announced things were changing, but you always heard rumors. The company really played up investing. When stocks started to fly, many people decided to sell. But then they realized they couldn’t sell because there came a point when everything was frozen. So they had to sit and watch it all go down to nothing and disappear.”

She said by then, company executives already had liquidated all of their own stock in the company.

“When people upstairs are liquidating their own stock, the writing is on the wall,” she said. “It was a good ride for us and we took advantage of the program and what was offered to us. But we really feel we were blindsided. And we’re not alone. There are thousands just like us. And we’re still fighting.”

Pat and Paul Takacs said they were hourly, union protected employees, so while their pensions were initially cut like that of the salaried retirees, the Obama administration made sure “to top up” the hourly workers’ pensions to make up the difference. Workers represented by the International Union of Electronic, Electrical, Salaried, Machine and Furniture Workers, United Steelworkers and United Automobile Workers still receive their full pensions, but for the past six years salaried retirees have been dealing with reduced pensions.