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About Northwest labor press. (Portland , Ore.) 1987-current | View Entire Issue (April 6, 2007)
Inside MEETING NO TICES See Page 6 V olume 108 Number 7 A pril 6, 2007 P ortland E ND O F T HE L INE F OR F REIGHTLINER TRUCKS By DON McINTOSH Associate Editor T (PHOTO ABOVE) As swing shift workers look on, a Freightliner manager hands Ron Bennett the keys to the last Portland-made commercial Freightliner truck. Bennett, a Freightliner retiree, drove the first Freightliner truck out of the Swan Island plant when it opened in 1969. (PHOTO LEFT) Freightliner welder and Machinist steward Morris Price points out custom features of the final truck — signatures, on the unfinished inside door panels, of the workers who made it. he last Freightliner commercial truck to be manufactured in Port- land was driven off the assembly line at 8:15 p.m. March 29, taking with it 802 union jobs. It was a bittersweet moment, pride mixed with pain, and was witnessed only by a few plant managers and about three dozen swing-shift factory workers, most of whom would be laid off the next day. The company brass who made the decision chose not to be there. Freightliner corporate headquarters will remain in Portland, for now, but no longer will Freightliner’s signature over-the-highway trucks be made in Portland, the brand’s birthplace. Instead, assembly will shift to Mex- ico — the latest defection in the long march of manufacturing jobs out of the United States. Freightliner was the brainchild of Portland shipping tycoon Leland James, founder of Consolidated Freightways. To lighten up the heavy steel trucks of his era, James wanted to try using aluminum components, and decided to build the truck himself when he couldn’t find a truckmaker willing to experiment. He hired engi- neers and in the late 1930s started pro- duction. Though sidelined a few years by wartime shortages, James’ Freight- liner Corporation returned to truck production in 1947 with a new plant in Portland. Since then, generations of Portlanders have made Freightliner trucks. In 1981, Consolidated Freightways sold Freightliner to German-owned Daimler-Benz. With aggressive mar- keting and new designs, the company increased market share, and Freight- liner became the leading long-haul truck brand in North America by 1992. But then, piece by piece, Freight- liner production began leaving Port- land. In 1998, Daimler-Benz merged with Chrysler; two years later, a plant in Santiago Tianguistenco, Mexico that had produced Daimler-Benz switched to exclusive production of Freightliner trucks. The plant in Portland’s Swan Is- land industrial area began shipping components to Mexico for final as- sembly. Meanwhile, Daimler-Chrysler bought Canadian Western Star truck brand in 2000, and closed the Kelowna, British Columbia produc- tion plant, shifting Western Star pro- duction to the Portland plant. In 2001, Freightliner closed its parts manufacturing plant in Portland. Several years later, the steel frame rails that begin the Portland truck pro- duction line started arriving stamped “Hecho en Mexico,” with a Mexican eagle insignia. They used to be made in the United States. “Seeing that was one of my biggest disappointments when I came back from layoff,” said quality assurance in- spector Zack Beard, 32, who was re- called in 2004 after three years of un- deremployment. The Columbia model truck was the first to shift assembly to Mexico. The mid-range Century Class left later. The high-end Coronado was the last to go. “Freightliner was making money here,” said Machinists Business Rep Joe Kear, “but they want to make even more money in Mexico.” Half the Portland workforce will stay on to manufacture Freightliner military trucks and specialty commer- cial trucks under the Western Star brand. The other half will trade $21.55-an-hour jobs for something else — a couple years of school, an- other job, or unemployment. At a March 28 job fair for Freight- liner workers, just 30 employers showed up, one-third of what had been expected. Mexican-owned Bimbo Bakeries, which bought Orowheat in 2002, was there to recruit for 16 sum- mer positions making hot dog buns at Bakers Union scale: $13 to start, rising to $19. Tri-Met, another union em- ployer, was seeking applicants for 200 part-time bus operator jobs, at a wage that starts at $12.34 and rises to $22.43. At the same time Freightliner is laying off workers in Portland, it’s hir- ing workers in Santiago Tianguis- tenco, about 90 minutes outside Mex- ico City. Top pay for a day-shift mechanic there is 465 pesos a day, about $5 an hour — roughly a quarter (Turn to Page 11)
