By Marilyn Odendahl, Truth Staff
ELKHART -- Standing in a cold rain, John Milliken was describing the working conditions inside the Vincent Bach factory when his anger finally boiled over.
He was one of about 15 to 20 striking Vincent Bach workers who were clustered around the entrance to the Indiana University South Bend branch building in Elkhart. As Milliken spied someone walking out of the building after going to the Conn-Selmer job fair, he cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted:
"Bunch of thugs. Bunch of rich thugs trying to hire scabs."
Conn-Selmer is the parent company of Vincent Bach and was having a job fair that began Friday afternoon and will continue today at the IUSB campuses in South Bend and Elkhart. The advertisement for the event listed jobs in such areas as buffing, soldering, final assembly, plating and maintenance.
Although Steinway Musical Instruments Inc., the parent company of Conn-Selmer, denied using the job fair to find replacement workers for the Vincent Bach factory, the strikers believe differently.
The workers, represented by United Auto Workers Local 364, handed out to those who walked into the building fliers that stated, "Conn-Selmer is trying to hire you for our jobs."
Immediately inside the entrance were two tall gray trash cans where most of the job fair attendees dropped the fliers.
At the entrance to the room where the job fair took place was a table with applications and a sign detailing Conn-Selmer employee benefits. Conn-Selmer employees, dressed alike in blue shirts, greeted each applicant.
John Stoner Jr., president and chief executive officer of Conn-Selmer, was at the fair but when approached by the media, he ducked into the room where the event was taking place. The media was not allowed into the room and the Conn-Selmer employees declined to answer questions.
By the main entrance of the building, however, one of the security guards characterized the strikers as stupid for walking out.
"In today's economy, sit down and negotiate and try to work it out," he said. "If you can't work it out, take the job. Accept what you get rather than nothing."
The guard would not give his name but said that before he retired, he had been a member of a union. He said, "I'm not against unions. I'm against being crazy."
As he continued, he began to say, "This is a free country..." but then a man dressed in a blue sport coat and tie cut the guard off and took him around the corner, down the hall and away from the media.
He did not return to finish his comment.
In the parking lot, Vincent Bach employee Don Wagner said he was a discouraged because he had expected only about a dozen people to show up for the job fair but he said about 50 had walked through the door during the first hour or two. He said many told him they needed a job.
Wagner was wearing a blue baseball cap with an emblem stitched to it that read: "Selmer Pride USA Made." He said signs with the same saying had hung in the Vincent Bach plant but when lean manufacturing was introduced about a year ago, those signs were taken down.
Several of the strikers held signs that read: "Vincent Bach Local 364 On Strike To Save American Jobs." Those wanting to attend the job fair had to walk through the crowd of strikers to get to the door of the building.
Lonnie Brown, a 34-year Vincent Bach employee, said, "We're all united. We're not letting anybody cross the picket line. If they do, they're going to be in a world of hurt."
The strikers gathered in groups to complain about the company's managers, in particular Stoner, and how they treat the workers. They called Stoner a dictator and accused him of ruining Vincent Bach.
"Sure, we don't want to lose our jobs but I refuse to work for a company that treats us like dirt," said 32-year employee Ellie Denny. "They demand we do things that are wrong and then blame us. We won't go back to work for them."
Spokeswoman Julie Theriault wrote in an e-mail that Steinway had no comment regarding the workers' statements about Stoner.