Last week Delphi held it’s annual “Take Our Children To Work Day.” It should have been called “Take Our Children To Where We Used To Work Day.”
It’s a good program and a lot of companies do it. But in light of the current situation it was more than a little ironic. Many of the workers that are about to retire probably don’t have children that young, but it is still interesting to see management putting on a brave face and pretending all is fine and normal and telling the kids what a great place it is to work.
Of course, that’s always the way. The face they show the public has always been quite different from the reality of things. Kind of like sending a bunch of people on a cruise ship while in bankruptcy…
And they’re going to do it again. They’re already talking about their “Excellence Week” the highlight of which is a antique and custom car show held in the front of the plant. Most of the cars belong to employees and it’s kind of like moving the car show from downtown Lockport to Delphi for a day. I wonder what the show will be like in a year or two when all those people are retired, moved away, or sold the cars because they can’t afford that luxury any more.
The whole excellence thing reeks of wishful thinking. There is nothing “excellent” about the state of the business. Last year, the company newssheet that they put out in the plant didn’t even spell excellence correctly. Now that’s “Excellance!”
So they keep straightening the deck chairs on the Titanic, hoping someone will actually believe the band playing in the background means things are all right.
