By Tim Vandenack, Truth Staff
tvandenack@etruth.com
GOSHEN -- Heavy metal blared over the sound system, the Chicago Cubs battled the Milwaukee Brewers on the big-screen TV and 50-year-old George Culley had an announcement.
"I just got laid off today," the career factory worker told the group around the table at Double D's, a Goshen bar that caters to working folks.
The news barely raised an eyebrow -- even Culley, who had worked for an RV manufacturer here, seemed to be taking it in stride -- and the conversation, focused on the jittery economy, continued.
"It's just the way it is. That's life," said Tony Mast, addressing the string of manufacturing sector layoffs that has propelled Elkhart County's unemployment rate to nearly 9 percent, up from 4.6 percent a year ago. The Middlebury man, seated to Culley's right, figures it's only a matter of time before he gets a pink slip from his employer, a Goshen manufactured home builder.
Though they still stream in after work to blow off a little steam, the tone at Double D's is different these days, the crowds a bit leaner, a sign of the tough economic times. No one's admitting defeat, but with the RV sector, a pillar of the local economy, reeling due to sky-high gas prices, a sense of subtle disquiet seems to lie just below the surface.
"Everybody's talking about moving away or trying to do something else," said bar manager and drink mixer Katie Akens, a University of Michigan fan wearing Notre Dame face paint because of a lost bet. "I think everybody's pretty bummed out."
Next to Cully and Mast's table, a trio of co-workers from a Goshen RV plant reflected the unease.
"We don't even know if we have a job next week, it's that tight right now," said Brandon Blosser, who has a wife and three young kids to support. "I've never felt this, never before, and I've been in the industry 10 years."
Nellie Holt, who drank just one Coke before heading home, figures the RV industry is in transition and that the number of manufacturers will be whittled to the fittest few.
"I think the jobs'll be few and far between," she said.
"It'll never be like it was," added Blosser. "It's something we got to get used to, something we got to adjust to."
'Skimp on everything'
Even if you still have a job in the RV sector, you aren't necessarily raking in the cash like you were. At the plant where Blosser and Holt work, if you still have a job, your hours have been scaled back. That means more work to compensate for those no longer around and a skinnier paycheck, maybe $350 to $400 less in take-home pay per week, down from around $1,000, Holt estimates.
Blosser doesn't complain, not too much anyway, and counts himself lucky just to have a job. But he feels the pinch.
"We change our lifestyle. We don't drive around like we used to and we don't go out to eat like we used to," he said. "We skimp on everything."
Akens, the Double D's manager, notices more people asking for tap beer, one of the low-cost offerings, or getting whatever happens to be the day's special.
More significantly, others say they are considering their options, pondering the possibility of life after factory work. Blosser, for one, said he's thought about studying for a job fixing heating and air-conditioning systems. Holt talks about work in the thriving health-care sector, where she worked previously.
Back over at Culley and Mast's table, they're treading into politics, arguing above the riffs of AC/DC and Metallica whether the Democrats or Republicans would better address the woeful economic situation. Mast, though, citing "out-fricking-rageous" gas prices, figures things are headed southward regardless and says a trip to the unemployment office would probably be his first line of defense.
More optimistically, Dave White, another RV worker sitting with Culley and Mast, speaks about the potential for a boon in business brought on by Hurricane Ike, which destroyed countless homes along Texas' Gulf Coast. Hurricane Katrina three years ago buoyed the local RV and manufactured home industries as the feds and others sought temporary housing for those displaced.
"I hate to say that, yeah," said the Goshen man. "(But) people are down there without homes."
More generally, the 30-plus year veteran of the cyclical sector said having seen it all and done it all nothing fazes him, even the specter of once again getting laid off. You just hang in there when tossed into the street, keep your eyes and ears open for job opportunities and consider the options at your disposal, he said.
"I've shoveled cow (manure) before," White said. "I will survive."