John’s Story Continues:
Bill DeLuca replaced Steve as plant manager at Waynesburg and Madison. Visiting Madison one day, we were typically short of employees. I had notices many migrant worker camps in Lake County and went to one in search of employees. A very professional personnel manager talked with us, saying, “Let me think this through, look over the records and find you some people who may work out. If they do, it would be an opportunity for them. Come back tomorrow.” We came back the next day and hired about six people.
Later, we moved the Madison operation back to Waynesburg. Interestingly, three of the Puerto Rican nationals hired in Madison moved to Waynesburg when the operation moved, married, had families and did fine work for us until the plant closed. One of these men, during a strike at Waynesburg, asked if he could continue making his hot tops every day. We said we wouldn’t recommend it, but it was OK with us. Every day during the strike, this fellow walked through the picket line, made his daily quota of hot tops, and walked back home through the picket lines. Unbelievable!
Bill DeLuca worked tirelessly to consolidate operations, improve quality and reduce costs. Bill’s work was an encouragement to me. Mike Longo supervised the non-clay production and impressed me personally by showing every new hire how to do the job assigned. He was the only supervisor I observed that could personally do every job and trained his people by example.
