Future of Belvidere Assembly Plant, 56-year employee up in the air as shutdown looms
For years, current and even retired Belvidere Assembly Plant auto workers would ask Ollie Mae Hampton Pelly when she planned to hang it up.
"I said to them, 'You know what? When I retire this plant is gonna close down. So let me work.'"
Little did Pelly know she was possibly foretelling the plant's future as well as her own.
More:Stellantis moves to 'idle' Belvidere Assembly Plant
Last month, Stellantis — the automaker formed via the 2021 merger of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV and French automaker Groupe PSA — announced it would "idle" the Chrysler plant indefinitely on Feb. 28.
Pelly, 84, of Beloit, Wisconsin, is a 56-year employee of the Belvidere plant and one of its most beloved workers.
While most call her "Ms. Ollie Mae," Pelly boasted, "Some call me granny. Some call me mom. Some call me their girlfriend and their woman."
The assembly plant's future — and that of hundreds of employees like Pelly — uncertain.
Just as Stellantis has left the door cracked to possibly retooling the plant and keeping it open, Pelly also is keeping her options open, stating if the plant is still operating after Feb. 28, "I might retire and I might not. I just don't know."
She has seen every vehicle model to roll out the plant
Pelly was 28 years old and living in Beloit when she learned the then 1-year-old automobile factory in Belvidere was hiring.
Neither the size of the plant (5,300,000 square feet of floor space), the thought of working in a male-dominated profession, nor a skeptical girlfriend deterred Pelly from applying.
"She said, 'Girl, you don't want to work there. They work hard there.' I said, 'Do any other women work there?' She said, 'Yeah.' I said, 'Hell, if they can do it. I can do it, too.'"
Pelly's first job at the plant was working on the assembly line, a task she did for three months before accepting the position of a parts inspector — inspecting tie rods, batteries, door hinges and other auto parts.
Fast forward 56 years, Pelly has witnessed every vehicle model — from the Plymouth and Dodge two-door, four-door models and station wagons, and the Chrysler Town & Country station wagon to the Jeep Cherokee — roll off the line.
More:Belvidere Assembly Plant braces for more layoffs amid uncertain future
She was there in the early days, through its busiest years when the plant ran three shifts and employed more than 5,000 people to now, running one shift with less than 1,350 workers.
Plummeting sales
Stellantis' decision to "idle" the Belvidere Assembly Plant comes as sales of the Jeep Cherokee — the sole vehicle produced there — plummet for a fourth consecutive year.
The Cherokee is struggling in a crowded compact SUV automotive market segment that has 15 strong competitors.
Through the third quarter of 2022, Jeep sold 30,852 Cherokees in the United States, 61% fewer than the 78,750 Cherokees it sold through the same time period in 2021.
Stellantis has steadily decreased its workforce at the Belvidere factory. It cut staff down to a single shift amid a microchip shortage in July 2021 and then laid off another 400 employees in January 2022.
'It's not the job. It's the people."
Phyllis Payne started working as a part-timer at the assembly plant in 1988. Not having a car of her own at that time, she asked co-workers for rides. One of them was Pelly.
"I'm from Beloit. She's from Beloit, and anytime I asked her, she would give me a ride there and back," Payne said. "And being a part-timer in a big place like that and having never worked in a factory of that size, it was a little frightening. But she was always there to help me."
Over the past 34 years, Pelly went from being a reliable means of transportation to being a close friend to someone Payne and others look up to.
"She's an inspiration," Payne said. "She's such a positive person."
Maribel Celletti, 48, is Pelly's team leader.
She, too, marvels at Pelly's commitment to the job and her longevity.
"She comes to work every single day," Celletti said. "She goes home every once in a while, but we send her home. And sometimes, I have to ask her to go home. Even when she feels sick, I have to ask.
"She's so loved by everybody here."
Pelly feels the same way about her coworkers, citing them as the reason she's come to work every day for more than 50 years.
"It's not the job. It's the people." Pelly said. "I love them all. I get plenty of hugs every day from the girls and the guys at work."
Chris Green: 815-987-1241; cgreen@rrstar.com; @chrisfgreen
This article originally appeared on Rockford Register Star: Future of Rockford-area Stellantis plant, senior employee up in the air
