OmniSource not rehiring all Mervis employees in Kokomo

When OmniSource Corp. purchased Mervis & Sons operations in Kokomo from Mervis Industries just before Christmas, a company official said he didn't see the much changing in terms of employment.

"We're going to run the business and that was what it required [Mervis] to run the business," Grant Schultz, vice president of business development, said the morning of Dec. 22. "Good employees are hard to come by, and we will need a lot of good employees to run this operation."

"[OmniSource] got the better part of the deal," Mervis director Michael Mervis declared at the time. "They got some great employees."

Today, a number of those "great employees" are out of work after receiving letters from Fort Wayne-based OmniSource informing them "at this time we have no position for you."

Among those out of work is James White, a crane operator who had 18 years at Mervis.

"I had an interview with OmniSource [Dec. 21] and they said they would call us," he said. "I was hoping to get a chance to work for them. But, I had this suspicion since [Dec. 22] that I wouldn't when they couldn't give me a definite answer about whether I would be hired or not.

"I don't have a job now. I have a wife and family to take care of and it hurts. I look at it as I have to do the best I can. This is like a big kick in the face to us Mervis employees.

"I think we should get more than kicked out the door. I think we should get severance pay or something. A lot of us work paycheck to paycheck."

The employees who OmniSource hired don't know what their position will be or what they will be paid, White said.

"Certain people got phone calls telling them to get a drug test. They'll start Tuesday, but they don't know what their position will be," he said.

White is at least one of nine people out of a job who worked at the Carter Street operation, according to Darrell Bowen, Steelworkers Local 2958 chairman for Mervis. The Steelworkers, who represented approximately 14 Mervis employees, were never approached by OmniSource.

Bowen, who spent 18 years at Mervis, worked as a skill clerk in non-ferrous metals and is also out of a job.

"There are nine people who haven't been called back that I know of," he said, "and six of the nine are union members. There are three [Steelworkers] who have jobs so far."

Ben Eisbart, OmniSource's executive vice president for administration, said he doesn't know what the exact staffing number will be in Kokomo, but expects the number of jobs cut to be 10 to 15. Mervis employed 40 people full time.

"As we reviewed what processing facilities were there in coordination with the rest of OmniSource, there wasn't a need to do all that was done by Mervises," he said. "We have yards in Indianapolis, Muncie and Fort Wayne that can handle some of the volume handled by the Kokomo plant. As a result, some individuals weren't offered jobs because there were not jobs to offer them."

He noted that shredder operations in Kokomo will be discontinued because the company has shredders in Indianapolis and Fort Wayne.

"A third one so close doesn't make sense. Shredders are fairly labor intensive," Eisbart said.

Yet, Bowen noted that of those who were not hired, only three worked in shredder operations, including both crane operators, White and another who had 29 years. The positions held by others included a mechanic, two truck drivers and a forklift operator.

White can't understand why employees weren't given a probationary period to show what they could do.

"OmniSource didn't give Mervis employees much of a chance. A probation period would have been great and would have at least given us a chance," he said.

Craig Mosier, a mechanic who wasn't hired, felt the same way.

"They could have given us 90 days and, if it didn't work out, OK," he said. "But, that would have given us time to look for another job.

"There was no explanation. I just feel like they blackballed us."

Eisbart said operations executives determined what production would take place in Kokomo and determined the number of employees needed.

"We hire people based on the skills needed and their ability to physically perform the position. Seniority is not a driver or stand-alone factor. We look at multiple factors," he said. "Human resources went out and interviewed everyone as if they were all new applicants."

Most employees feel like they weren't given a chance, said White, who saw several fellow workers when he went to sign up for unemployment benefits.

"It's sad the way it happened," White said. "I wouldn't care if I was shoveling dirt, if that was what it took to have a job. I would go back to minimum wage just to have a job.

"It's hard, but I'm trying not to think about it. I have got to go on with life and deal with it."

The worst part, he said, was getting through Christmas without bringing everyone else down. That was before he got the letter informing him he had no job.

"I didn't buy my kids Christmas presents this year. I sat down with them and told them 'I don't have a job,'" White said, choking up as he explained.

"They said 'We have a dinner' and that was good enough for them."