By Josh Weinhold, Truth Staff
jweinhold@etruth.com
GOSHEN -- U.S. Rep. Mark Souder knew there were lots of jobs in northeast Indiana that were tied to auto manufacturing plants.
But in the last few days, he's learned there are thousands of other jobs here tied to plants in places such as Canada, Kansas, Texas and Tennessee.
"I thought our parts guys would rely on Kokomo, Fort Wayne and Michigan," Souder, R-3rd, said. "Then I hear that if Canadian plants go, I lose jobs in my district. That was kind of an odd notion."
Souder met in Goshen with nine auto suppliers from the district on Tuesday, and met with another group of suppliers in Fort Wayne last week. Those nine companies have had to trim about 2,000 jobs in the last year, Souder said, and hundreds more in the last week due to two Canadian plant closures.
It was a real eye-opener, he said, one that made him realize again how deep the auto industry is buried in northern Indiana.
Souder said it's impossible to estimate just how many jobs suppliers provide in his district, which includes Fort Wayne, Goshen and more than two-thirds of Elkhart County, but the number is probably close to 30,000, he said. The neighboring Second District, represented by Democrat Joe Donnelly, has thousands more.
As reliant as auto companies are on suppliers, each smaller company needs parts from several other smaller companies, he said. One company at Tuesday's meeting has 56 suppliers alone.
"All of a sudden, they can't function if one of their suppliers goes down in Kansas," Souder said.
The company representatives present at the meeting declined media requests for interviews.
As domestic and foreign automakers struggle to sell cars and some consider bankruptcy proceedings, life has been rough for the people that make the parts. According to Souder, the suppliers said orders to Ford, Honda and Toyota have dropped 40 percent, while General Motors Corp. part requests have tumbled by twice that number.
Whether or not those companies can survive a nine- to 11-week shutdown of all GM plants this summer will depend on how diverse their client base is, Souder said.
With GM's future uncertain, possible including a Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection filing, Souder said he believes GM will survive -- perhaps becoming a smaller, sleeker operation.
Souder also said he believes the recreational vehicle industry can bounce back, hopefully to 75 percent of what it once was. If that occurs and the auto manufacturers recover to 50 percent of what they were, the region can be prosperous again, ideally with alternative energy operations to supplement lost employment.
But if that doesn't happen, life could be a lot bleaker in northeast Indiana, he said.
"If they go under," said Souder, referring to GM and Chrysler, "I believe we'll never recover."