Paul Clemens' "Punching Out" Hits Close to Home

Budd Detroit former plant site, as seen on Bing Maps.

Detroit native Paul Clemens immersed himself for one year in his hometown’s Budd Company stamping plant. The purpose of this self-imposed assignment wasn’t, however, to observe the mammoth presses molding steel parts like a cookie cutter shaping a lump of dough.  Budd used to stamp parts for the Big Three American automakers, but those days were done. As Chrysler, GM, and Ford continued to ship labor to other nations, America’s industrial backbone proceeded to break. In 2007, Budd Company was just one example of many such casualties.  Clemens compiled his observations and insights into Punching Out:  One Year in a Closing Auto Plant.

As the plant operations were winding down, a rag-tag crew was brought in to dismantle the million-pound-plus press lines and other salvageable equipment. Clemens introduces us to a colorful cache of characters that include native Detroit roughnecks, a crew of hillbillies from Arkansas, an Iraq war veteran, and an Eastern European immigrant. Throughout their year together, Clemens finds himself developing a bond with each of the dismantlers. His words are full of personal insight into the ironic nature of it all: These workers—many laid off from high-paying union jobs in manufacturing—are using their muscle, manpower, and mechanics skills on one final task. Conversely, some of the crew members made a living off the dismembering of Blue-Collar America, moving around the country for a few months’ wages each time another manufacturer closed up shop.

Perhaps the most startling detail of it all is not the loss of American jobs. Clemens captures in vivid detail the gruesome conditions inside Budd Company after operations ceased. There’s no heat to insulate from the Detroit winter. No electric. No running water.  Working conditions are in an oil-soaked squalor.  Add in the rag-tag band of workers and not only do you have labor conditions seeming of a Third-World country, but you have some of the roughest language and lifestyles as well. Clemens spares no four-letter word, often swearing needlessly, in my opinion.  Stories of drugs, drunkeness, and other vices will make most readers cringe. If a movie gets made of Punching Out, it’ll get an “R” for sure.

One thing I found the book lacking was visuals. A small black and white photo introduces each chapter. Clemens’ word pictures fill the theater of the mind, but leave the reader wanting to see full-color prints. While the book fails to deliver, PaulClemens.com features a click-able schematic of the Budd Plant along with color pictures. Not high-quality, professional stuff, just point-and-shoot stills that do a fine job of capturing the gritiness.

Another insight Clemens shares is on organized labor.  What timeliness, considering current events in Wisconsin. Some of the characters introduced are staunch collective bargainers, such as a local UAW representative, while others proclaim that, “Unions priced America out of a job.” As Clemens rifles through a box of old union grievances filed at Budd, the reader is left to decide whether collective bargaining strong armed corporations right over the border to cheaper labor.

The epilogue concludes with Clemens visiting Gestamp stamping plant in Aguascalientes, Mexico. Several press lines that formerly stamped at Budd were relocated to this Central Mexican facility. A stark contrast and brutal irony exist between this Third-World plant versus Budd: Gestamp is clean, modern, and bustling. Budd was old, dilapidated, and had unthinkable working conditions during its countdown to closure. Even more brutal: Budd used to stamp parts for the Big Three, including Chrysler, who was now using Gestamp to press steel for a Dodge model.

Punching Out is a sobering look at outsourced labor, collective bargaining, and the death of American manufacturing. It hits home for those of us in Buffalo where the auto industry still has a manufacturing presence, albeit a microcosm of what once was. While Detroit’s economy is decimated, Buffalo’s isn’t far behind. Surely laid off autoworkers, Bethlehem Steel workers—these can relate to what made the Northeast/Midwest great and what has turned these regions into the rustbelt. Sadly, Clemens’ tale is just one of thousands being written across America. While our manufacturing might is quickly crossing the borders to cheap labor, all is not lost. After reading Punching Out one must wonder, what is America’s next big thing? What will the picture of our new economy look like? Let us hope America’s best days are still ahead.

GET IT

Punching Out was just released earlier this year. Buffalo & Erie County library has it available in hardcover while major booksellers have both print and eBook editions. Amazon.com has an interesting video introduction.