Applications for temporary Packard jobs are being accepted through Thursday.
By DON SHILLING
LIBERTY — Hundreds of people are applying for temporary work at Delphi Packard Electric, with some thinking it will lead to a permanent job.
John Edmonds, 44, of Liberty, filled out an application today even though he has a full-time job at the Kmart Distribution Center in Bazetta Township.
He was hired there two years ago on a lower-wage tier, which pays $12 an hour. If he gets hired for a temporary job at Packard, he said he will work two jobs in the hopes that the Packard job will become permanent.
Packard is looking for 300 temporary workers. The jobs pay $10 an hour, have no benefits and are to last 120 days.
No one knows what regular Packard workers will earn in the future because its parent company, Delphi Corp., is in bankruptcy and is negotiating new contracts with its unions. Delphi is proposing cutting its top hourly pay for production workers from $27 to $16.50 if it receives help from General Motors Corp. or $12 without that help.
Seizing opportunity
"The bankruptcy doesn't bother me," said Robin Hunt, 40, of Cortland.
She applied for a temporary job even though she has another job because she thinks Packard would be a good place to work.
"It's temporary, but it might be temporary to hire. That's what I assume," she said.
Trumbull County One-Stop, an agency handling the application process, has not been told anything about permanent jobs, said Bill Turner, agency administrator.
Delphi and the International Union of Electrical Workers, which represents hourly workers at the Packard plants in the area, are negotiating future staffing levels at the plants.
In the meantime, Packard needs temporary workers to replace regular employees who are being trained on new jobs. Nearly all regular employees who are staying with the company are being reassigned.
The maker of vehicle wiring systems is cutting its local hourly work force in the area from 3,800 to 700 through buyouts and early retirement incentives. Packard may hire permanent employees, however, because it said earlier this year that it needed about 1,000 hourly workers.
In demand
No question the temporary jobs are in demand.
"This is a once-in-a-lifetime chance," said Tawanda Huff, 33, of Boardman, who came to the Holiday Inn MetroPlex to fill out an application.
About 275 people were on hand when One-Stop started accepting applications Monday. More people were streaming in after the doors were opened.
"There's not a whole lot of hiring going on around here unfortunately," Turner said.
Apply through Thursday
The agency is accepting applications at the hotel each day through Thursday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Turner said an employee at a nearby business said the line started forming at 4:30 a.m. Monday, but he added that there was no advantage to filing an application early. The agency is simply giving all the applications to Packard for further review.
Job applicants said they were told that Packard wants two years of experience in warehousing or manufacturing.
Signs outside the building said applicants should be willing to work any shift, be able to lift 50 pounds and be able to pass a physical and drug screening.