Old Timer

CHICAGO HEIGHTS | Colleagues describe 85-year-old Harold Michalak as the guy who comes to work early and is one of the last to leave.

Michalak, a maintenance electrician at Ford Motor Co.'s Chicago Stamping Plant, still works six days a week and walks the facility regularly. He said he thinks about retirement every day because "I'm getting old, I guess."

But until he decides to walk away, he'll be carrying his homemade toolbox to his next plant task because he likes his job.

Ford Motor Co. employees and retirees honored Michalak on Tuesday with a surprise celebration and gifts, two days shy of him finishing his 60th year of employment with the company.

"I have no complaints about Ford," Michalak, of Tinley Park, Ill., said in a soft voice. "They took care of me. I can't ask for a better place to work."

United Auto Workers Local 588 President Bill Jackson said Michalak is special because he has the most seniority among the nearly 900 workers in the plant and all UAW members working for Ford in North America.

"You would never know that he's 80," Jackson said. "He is value added. There is no doubt about it."

Among the gifts from the union was a hourglass to signify his long-term employment with the company.

Michalak's Ford employment predates the Chicago Stamping Plant. Prior to the plant's start of production in April 1956, he worked at an aircraft engine manufacturing plant that is now the site of Ford City Mall in Chicago. Prior to Ford, Michalak served in the infantry of the U.S. Army during World War II and worked at a rail yard near Cermak Avenue and Canal Street in Chicago.

Gloria Georger, plant manager at the stamping plant, said Michalak's dedication was honorable and she joked that many things have changed in the world since Michalak began working for the company. When he started with Ford, the average price of a vehicle was $1,800, a gallon of gas cost 27 cents and the minimum wage was 75 cents an hour.

Georger played a recorded message from Ford President and CEO Alan Mulally to Michalak congratulating him on his achievement.

"Harold, you and Ford and Chicago Stamping rock," Mulally said.

Stamping plant facilities manager Stanley Szykowny said Michalak has one of the strongest work ethics among plant employees.

"I hope I'm in that good of shape when I'm his age," said Szykowny, who has worked at the facility for 33 years

Read more: http://www.nwitimes.com/niche/inbusiness/article_f8528318-4ea1-5678-87e4-600b4e67f54b.html#ixzz1Q3dDrvkR

Must be a "company" man by now.