SAVING JOBS and Investing in LABOR’S FUTURE: The Steel Valley Authority

Abstract

Mary Rickabaugh is a union assembler at General Cable Company in Altoona, Pennsylvania, east of Pittsburgh. In 1844, the predecessor to General Cable supplied the insulated wire to Samuel Morse for the world’s first telegraph message. Today, the company manufactures ignition wire sets for the automotive aftermarket. During the Christmas season in 1994, however, a plant-closing notice at the factory shocked Rickabaugh and many of her brothers and sisters from the International Union of Electrical Workers. The alarming notice meant that 250 jobs—and one of the largest companies in town—would be lost.Searching for an alternative to the closure, someone called the Steel Valley Authority (SVA), a small development agency in Pittsburgh. Few people in labor or in management held any hope of success. Still, the SVA convened an emergency task force composed of leadership from the union, the management, economic development agencies, and state and local political offices.Zeroing in on operational problems on the plant floor, the task force was able to convince the corporation, recently purchased by a British firm, to temporarily alter its decision. Many of the problems had been caused by a “cellular production system” that had been suggested by the regional manufacturing extension program and that was imposed on the workforce. The SVA assigned a “worker-friendly” operations consultant to work with the union and management to explore more cooperative and productive operations.The cooperative strategy looked like a long shot. “I didn’t think it would ever work, and the company didn’t know for sure either,” recalls Rickabaugh. Well, it did work. Not only was a shutdown prevented, but General Cable has since won numerous national awards and expanded its workforce. In fact, last year Industry Week recognized the facility as one of North America’s “Best Plants.”