The Graveyard Shift: ‘I feel like I’m back on track’

BRIAN WILLIAMS: Good evening once again, and welcome. And as we come on the air live tonight, right now in Flint , Michigan , about 750 GM autoworkers are getting ready to head to work as their night shift begins tonight. And that is news in itself. The fact that General Motors has restored the overnight shift is one more sign of recovery at a company that might not exist at all if not for a $50 billion taxpayer bailout, and we should mention, a lot of hard work to get back in the game. With the Michigan primary coming up, this is a hot topic right now in the GOP race. But as NBC 's Mike Taibbi found out, for the folks working the graveyard shift it's about being able to support their families again.

MIKE TAIBBI reporting: In the dead of a Michigan winter, no one on the graveyard shift at a truck assembly skips into work. It's cold, and you never start out feeling rested enough. But no one's complaining about having to be here. In fact, just the opposite.

Mr. MARCUS TYLER: I have a real peace of mind because I feel like I'm back on track.

TAIBBI: Back on track because the overnight shift , the third shift , is back online after shutting down two years ago. That's when GM and Chrysler almost went belly up until the government bailed them out. Here at GM 's Flint assembly plant some iconic vehicles once rolled off the line, Corvette , the Bel Air , the Suburban . And in its heyday, the city of Flint had 80,000 auto-related jobs. Today there are only 7,000. Just half the city it once was, Flint is emblematic of the rise and fall of one of America 's signature industries. Now the healthy noise of work under way can again be heard in the middle of the night . It's hard work. Single mom Carrie Miller installs 300 instrument panels every shift . You're a young woman in your early 30s.

Ms. CARRIE MILLER: Yes, that feels like she's in her 80s.

TAIBBI: Oh, no.

Ms. MILLER: It's manual, physical labor.

TAIBBI: But these are 750 new full-time jobs, average pay around $29 an hour, plus benefits. Most of the slots are filled by long laid-off autoworkers. Seven-hundred fifty jobs in a plant , a city, an industry trying to turn the corner. Larry Zahner is GM 's manager of North American manufacturing. You could have been DOA two and a half years ago.

Mr. LARRY ZAHNER: There's no doubt about it .

TAIBBI: Instead, GM kept going, even while paring away pension packages, thousands of jobs, hundreds of dealerships. The stock price collapsed. Then in 2011 Motor Trend magazine named the Silverado HD , built right here, its Truck of the Year . Since these are high-end, heavy duty trucks that work, for people who work, and not just for trips to the mall, these star performers helped push GM 's overall 2011 sales for all models to a 13 percent gain. And that made putting on the third shift not a gamble but a logical step on the long road to recovery.

Mr. ZAHNER: The last thing we want to do is put on a third shift , bring people in from around the country.

TAIBBI: Disrupt their lives.

Mr. ZAHNER: Disrupt their lives. We've been very careful and assuring when we put the third shift on it's going to stick.

TAIBBI: For thousands of idled autoworkers, disrupting their lives to work this shift was a no-brainer. Anthony Pylant got his picture in the paper in 2009 , showing just how crushed he and his co-workers felt the day they were told their jobs at GM 's Spring Hill , Tennessee , plant were history. Did you think your career, this part of it, was over that day?

Mr. ANTHONY PYLANT: Pretty much. Pretty much.

Mr. DAVE GRAY: We tried the job markets, nothing quite worked. We got this opportunity and here we are.

TAIBBI: After two years of scrambling to make ends meet, Dave Gray , Pylant , and Marcus Tyler , who'd all had 15 years at GM , packed up and moved to Flint . They share a sparse apartment and work third shift . They've got reminders of home with them and use face time to stay in touch with family.

Mr. TYLER: So what's your big plans for the weekend?

TAIBBI: But when they pack their lunch and drive to the plant , they hope the worst is behind them. The low pay nothing jobs that barely covered health insurance , the worry over unemployment benefits ending, the fear in the middle of the night .

Mr. TYLER: You don't really appreciate what you have sometimes until it's gone.

Mr. PYLANT: It was pride. And it really hurt. So when this came up, its was like, I got to do what I know how to do, you know, so.

TAIBBI: Most important question is, who does the dishes at the apartment?

Mr. PYLANT: He cooks. I sort of clean.

TAIBBI: Yeah?

Mr. TYLER: We all do. We all pitch in.

TAIBBI: And that could be the mantra for this whole operation, everyone pitching in. Union local head Barry Campbell and plant chief Amy Farmer were each born and raised in Flint . They remember the old days when labor and management relations were not just adversarial, but almost reflexively contentious. Now they speak constantly and not just across the negotiating table.

Ms. AMY FARMER: We strategize together. We plan projects together. We execute together.

TAIBBI: You like the view of the future, too, don't you?

Mr. BARRY CAMPBELL: I want to fill every inch. I want all the jobs. I want to continue to build trucks. I want our kids, hopefully down the road, to have jobs, too, right here in Flint .

TAIBBI: It's not unthinkable, as the new third shift jobs here have triggered an employment boomlet. They say each job on the line means three jobs in support industries. Well, this is one of the places where that conventional wisdom turns into practical reality. This is Oakley Subassembly , where they put tires on rims. The same tires that just a few hours later are installed on the truck chassis moving down the line here at GM 's main assembly plant three miles away. And Flint isn't just gaining auto industry jobs. Angelo 's Coney Island all-night restaurant, owner Neil Helmkay says business is up 5 percent, maybe more.

Mr. NEIL HELMKAY: We will probably be adding a few extra waitresses as the area grows with the jobs.

TAIBBI: We sat down at Angelo 's with Forbes magazine 's auto writer, Joanne Muller . GM would not have made a commitment to a third shift unless the money guys had figured this is going to stick.

Ms. JOANNE MULLER: I think the Flint assembly plant and the heavy duty trucks here are a real economic indicator of where we're going. People are going back to work. Companies are starting to buy pickup trucks for their businesses. This is all great news.

TAIBBI: It's a snapshot of a wounded corporate giant on the rebound with human consequences beyond.

Mr. ZAHNER: And while what's good for General Motors is good for the US may not be the slogan of the day, when we create a job we still help the economy and we create more jobs outside.

Ms. FARMER: Are we stronger, faster than some may have expected? Good for us. Good for America .

TAIBBI: And it's good for Flint where, after years of struggle and decline, the nights are again filled with the sights and sounds of an industry lurching back to health. Where hundreds more men and women with families can again support those families. With this salary, with this job, you could have a middle class life.

Mr. PYLANT: Yes.

TAIBBI: Without overspending, you could have a middle class life.

Mr. PYLANT: Yes. I didn't go to college, but I'm making a good salary. It's the last stand of the middle class family.

Mr. TYLER: We're blessed to have a job in the auto industry . There's no complaints, no.

Mr. PYLANT: There's a million people across this nation that would swap spots with us in a heartbeat, you know? I don't take it for granted at all.

WILLIAMS: Great note to end on. Mike Taibbi here with us in the studio. As an American car guy myself, raised in an American car family, it's hard to see anything negative, but we should probably remind folks of the numbers. What did GM get from the federal government? How much has been given back? And how much of GM do we all still own?

TAIBBI: Well, they got a lot. GM got $49.5 billion. They paid back $24.1 billion, a little less than half. That's the part of it that was a loan. But the US Treasury , meaning all of us, still owns 500 million shares of stock in the reconstituted GM . That's worth about 12 to $13 billion right now. So we're on the hook, the US Treasury 's on the hook for about 12 or $13 billion right now, and they don't expect any further payment from GM . That's still an area of debate. No debate though that GM is back on the rebound. They're back as you've reported, we all have, as the number one vehicle maker in the world now.

WILLIAMS: All right, Mike Taibbi , welcome back. Great bit of reporting out there at the plant