Fixed Ops Journal - October 2017 - 19

C O V E R

S T O R Y

CHICAGO

HOPE

New Chicago
tech contract
addresses pay
and seniority
I PAGE 22 I

Lengthy technicians' strike highlights work-force issues
facing all dealerships as competition for talent grows

STEPHANIE HERNANDEZ McGAVIN

shorter, better-defined path to senior status. For more
experienced techs, it means a longer guaranteed
workweek.
or seven weeks over the summer,
A face of the Chicago strike is Richard Madonia, a
2,000 service technicians went on
23-year-old lube technician at Community Honda of
strike at 129 new-vehicle dealerships in the
Orland Park. He has held his entry-level job for nine
Chicago area, seeking better pay and working
months and expects to spend about two more years in
conditions.
a tech-training program sponsored by his union.
One dealer estimates the walkout cost his store
Madonia notes that many fast-food workers in Chihundreds of thousands of dollars in lost service
cago are paid better than he is.
revenue. Another calls
Still, he says he enjoys his work
the strike "unnecesand wants to keep doing it - at
sary ... devastating" and says
least for now.
it left him "bitter."
The strike settlement aims to enYet the terms of the
able dealerships to retain younger
strike's settlement deserve
service workers such as Madonia
attention because they adby boosting the hourly pay of bedress challenges that conginning lube techs from $9 to $11
front all dealership service
and of semiskilled technicians
departments - not just unionized
from $11 to $13.
shops in one city - as they seek to
In the longer term, the contract
recruit and retain productive techincludes a formal performance renicians.
DAN COSTLEY, a journeyman
view after 24 months for semiThe stakes are higher than ever
technician at Garber Fox Lake
skilled techs who seek apprenticefor dealerships in the competition
Toyota who took part in the
ships - a vital next step on the
for techs. As new-vehicle sales
Chicago strike
technician career path. That's imcool, fixed operations will account
portant, Madonia says.
for a greater share of dealership
"It's kind of hard to get locked into an apprenticeship
profits in coming years. The chronic shortage of techbecause [the dealership is] going to have to guarantee
nicians will grow more acute as those now on the job
you a position as a journeyman," he told Fixed Ops
retire.
Journal. "So if the shop has a lot of journeymen,
And as the cars and trucks coming into the shop bethey're not really looking to hire apprentices."
come ever more complex, the training and skills reThe Chicago tech strike and its aftermath come at a
quired of techs will have to be more sophisticated as
time of turmoil for service technicians and the dealerwell. So the status of service technicians becomes inships that employ them. The National Automobile
creasingly critical.
The new four-year contract in Chicago means an immediate pay raise for younger techs there, along with a
see CHICAGO, Page 20
foj@autonews.com

"People are
leaving in herds.
The younger guys
are seeing the
career is not what
it's cut out to be."

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Fixed Ops Journal - October 2017