Chrysler workers officially have a new contract, but Belvidere employees are still on edge, as they wait to hear if the rumors are true and the plant's third shift will be cut.
"Let's put it on," says Erica VanAcker, holding out her daughter's costume. The VanAcker family is getting ready for Halloween. Their two-year old daughter will be Cinderella, two month old son a penguin and dad, he's just hoping he won't be out of a job.
"I walked into work Friday. There was a guy there that i work with and he had said that one of the union representatives had in fact slipped and said third shift might be on its way out," says Chrysler Belvidere worker Keith VanAcker.
Vanacker is one of 600 enhanced temporary workers brought in to fill the third shift when the plant started making Jeep Patriots and Compasses last year. Now that most, if not all the 1000 third shift jobs may be in jeopardy, temp workers expect to be the first to go.
"I'm really just wanting to know what is going on. It seems like there's a lot of questions that have been asked that are being left unanswered and it gets frustrating," says VanAcker.
Chrysler will not confirm whether the shift cut is happening. Belvidere's UAW president Tom LittleJohn also did not return calls for comment Sunday. But auto analysts say the Jeep Compass is selling poorly and could soon get the axe. If that happens the third shift would likely follow and that's a frightening thought for the VanAckers.
"We just bought our house too. So it is definitely scary because we're so used to the income that he does have," says Keith's wife Erica VanAcker
But Keith says the auto industry is always up and down and he won't believe anything until it's written in stone. For now he's trying not to let job fears haunt his family.
As a temporary employee, VanAcker was not paid when the plant recently shutdown for two weeks due to slow sales. His wife says that was an unpleasant taste of what could be ahead.
The worker buzz is that if the cut happens, it would come before Christmas. That way Chrysler wouldn't have to pay employees when the plant shuts down over the holidays.