The new unemployed profile: Rick Springsteen

By Dave DeWitte
The Gazette

Rick Springsteen, 46, of Lisbon, is one of 257 Sealed Air Cryovac employees who found out at the end of 2008 that the company plans to close its Cedar Rapids packaging material plant in October.

Unemployed veteran worker Rick Springsteen has worked at Sealed Air Cryovac for 23 years. The company has begun a phased shutdown of its Cedar Rapids operation. Photo by Jim Slosiarek.

The news came during a vacation week; a friend called to give him the news. Even though the plant is profitable and has an enviable safety record, Springsteen wasn’t surprised.

“It’s hard to be surprised at anything these days,” said Springsteen, whose job ends in July. “We’re their last union factory. A lot of this stuff is going to Mexico.”

Springsteen has worked at the plant since he left the U.S. Air Force with an honorable discharge as a sergeant almost 24 years ago. He had risen from material handler to a lead person overseeing the plant’s SAP inventory control system. It had been a good ride, he said, a union job with good money and benefits.

The closing decision struck Springsteen as a clear case of placing profits over people. He wishes CEOs could be required to spend time in unemployment offices and job-search clinics so they could understand how their decisions affect lives.

“Watching them close all these factories, it’s like watching an autopsy,” Springsteen said. “Piece by piece, one by one, you’re watching something that used to be so strong be disassembled.”

Since the closing announcement, the father of three has divided his time between Sealed Air Cryovac and his job search. Springsteen worries that his lack of a college degree will hurt him in today’s competitive job environment.
“They look at the education before they look at the work ethic,” Springsteen said.

One advantage for Springsteen is Trade Adjustment Act assistance from the federal government. He’s eligible because the work is going to another country. That assistance should allow Springsteen to receive unemployment benefits until he finishes an approved college degree if necessary.

© Gazette Communications 2009