What happened to MSU student Andrea Posigian's father could be the same fate thousands of other Ford Motor Co. employees face in the near future.
Sooren Posigian started working for Ford almost four decades ago, just before his 19th birthday. And now, at 57 years old, he finds himself in forced retirement.
"They told me they didn't have a job for me," said Posigian, who lost his job two years ago. "It was just like getting laid off, except I had 36 years with the company."
In the next few months, more Ford employees could receive the same news.
This month, the company announced it will cut up to 44,000 jobs by 2008, and by the end of this year, up to 11,000 people could leave Ford, said Marcey Evans, a spokeswoman for the company.
From 2000 to 2005, about 103,000 jobs disappeared in the transportation and equipment manufacturing sector, said Jim Rhein, an economic analyst for the Lansing-based Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Growth.
Cuts in production, rising health-care costs for employees and high wages all contribute to the industry's need to make cuts, said Phil Gardner, director of the university's Collegiate Employment Research Institute.
"That recession in the '80s really hit them hard, and they've been slowly losing ground ever since then," Gardner said.
With his pension checks, Posigian supports five children who live at home in Dearborn, while still paying tuition bills for his daughter Andrea and son David, who attends Lawrence Technological University.
In the next few years, the family's savings will dry up, he says, but already the Posigians have altered their lifestyle by eliminating vacations and cutting back on expenses.
"It's scary, but you have to keep pushing forward," Posigian said.
He said he can relate to the stress and uncertainty that Ford employees are experiencing now.
"I've gone through it. It's a rough road," Posigian said. "It impacts the whole family."
This month, Ford announced more job cuts, but Posigian remembers when that wasn't the case.
"If you weren't going to college, (Ford) was the place to go," he said. "There was always a line at the employment office and people coming and going."
Andrea Posigian, a crop and soil sciences freshman, said nearly everyone in her high school knew someone or had a family member working in the industry. "It was just the unsaid thing to do," she said.
But times are different now.
In the last 20 years, Detroit's auto industry has lost market share to foreign competitors, and with that, the lucrative job offers for engineering students, Gardner said.
"The biggest impact is realigning students' expectations," he said.
Andrea said she didn't know the severity of Ford's problems or the importance of the car company in her family's life until her father stopped working there.
"I never stopped to think about it before it was gone," she said.
Declining numbers
In the mid-'80s, General Motors Corp. would have given about 150 permanent jobs to graduating MSU students, Gardner said.
But in 2005, GM and Ford offered only about 34 jobs total to MSU graduates, Gardner said. And in 2006, that number declined even further, he said.
"These numbers are way down from previous years," Gardner said. "The bottom fell out of the auto industry."
For some MSU students, like civil engineering freshman Danny Strayer, days are filled with uncertainty as they wait to see if the automotive industry's troubles will hit home.
Strayer learns in December if his mother will keep her management job at Ford.
"She was close to retiring anyway," Strayer said. "It's more of something to do. She has no reason to leave right now."
The dinner table is sometimes the place where Strayer sees his mother's frustrations come out. When he questions his mom about Ford's situation, she lets out a big sigh and says she doesn't want to talk about it, he said.
"It's been hard," Strayer said. "It makes everything more stressful."
In the last few years, the Strayer family padded their savings account to prepare for the possible loss of her steady income.
Watching Ford's problems, especially since he now has personal interest in his mother's company, has been difficult for Strayer.
Strayer flipped through the business section of the Detroit Free Press over the summer to check Ford's dropping stock prices and job cuts.
Now in East Lansing, Strayer's daily Internet routine in the morning still includes reading the latest Ford news.
"I follow pretty closely with Ford," Strayer said. "It's frustrating — it just seems people like to focus on the negative things."
Ford's recent bad publicity bothers Strayer because he grew up in Dearborn, where Ford's world headquarters is located.
"I lived there all my life," Strayer said. On the streets, all you see is Ford, he said.
"This town wouldn't be here if it wasn't for Ford," he said.
Still recruiting
Even though jobs are disappearing, at least two of the Big Three will be on campus next week at the Career Gallery to recruit students, said Eric Doerr, associate director for the Lear Center Corporation Career Services Center.
"We are coming to do recruiting at college campuses," Ford spokeswoman Marcey Evans said, despite Ford's recently announced job cuts.
Companies such as Ford and GM anticipate better times ahead and don't want to scramble in the next few years to search for new employees who have experience inside the company, Gardner said.
GM also continues to employ interns, bringing in about 800 people annually, said GM spokesman Robert Herta.
"We're going to continue to recruit at the same level," Herta said.
After her supply chain management internship at Ford ended in August, advertising senior Elizabeth Antonopulos crossed her fingers hoping she would receive a job offer to come back after she graduates in May.
At the end of the summer, Ford told her she could have a job offer by Sept. 1.
A month ago, she received an e-mail telling her that date would be pushed back.
Antonopulos said she doesn't know if the company's recent announcements of jobs cuts will affect her entry-level position.
"I have no idea. It's really up in the air," Antonopulos said of securing a job. "I'm still going to go to job fairs and pursue other opportunities just in case that falls through."
Still, walking into the automobile industry as an outsider was a positive experience for Antonopulos.
"I think I've really taken from Ford all they could offer me," she said.
Spending time at the office, Antonopulos could see the employees' divided stances on the company.
Not only did her internship put her inside a major corporation, but Antonopulos said she realized what kind of company she desires — one with a united front.
"I saw the impact of bleeding Ford blue versus 'I wanna get the heck out of here,'" she said.
Gabrielle Russon can be reached at russonga@msu.edu.
