Life at Autoliv with Maria Vergel
Introducing Maria Vergel from the heartland of car manufacturing in Melbourne.
Maria Vergel. Captured by Lois Vergel
We had heard bits and pieces of Maria’s story before, so when the opportunity came to feature her in our Makers series, it simply had to happen. And so, on a dim Thursday evening, we hit the Western Ring Road and headed for Melbourne’s outer northern suburb of Epping.
After being treated to a traditional Filipino dish prepared by Maria’s husband, Danilo, we settled in for a chat about what the car industry meant to her.
The Early Days
We started off by asking Maria about her upbringing.
“I was born in the Philippines in a place called Calamba. It’s one of the towns in Laguna. I have a twin sister and three older sisters. I studied economics and then found work in Human Resources, but my field is in benefits and training.”
Moving Down Under
After marrying Danilo in the early nineties and having their first child, Ian, a short time later, the young family made the brave decision to leave the Philippines and migrate south.
“Moving to Australia was my husband Danny’s idea. His brother-in-law, Dante, said that he could help us to come to Australia as they were already in the process of moving here. Danny never thought that he could live overseas, but the family situation was a big reason for moving here.
“We came to Australia in 1994 when my son, Ian, was very young. Initially, we had to live with my sister-in-law. We didn’t have big expectations at the time; we just wanted to see how it was in Australia. Plus, my husband had his sister and brother-in-law who he could lean on.”
Maria at home. Captured by Lois Vergel
Finding Work
Starting their new life in Melbourne’s north, Maria and Danny began the search for a steady income.
“As a young family, it was important to us to eventually be able to live in our own. When we arrived, the mentality with me and my husband was ‘whoever gets the work first’. Danny started working in the Alcan metal factory in Campbellfield and financially, he was able to help his family back in the Philippines far more than he could before. He used to take the train, a bus and then another bus to get there because we didn’t have a car at the time.”
“I started working in a baby food factory in Thomastown which was owned by Heinz. It was a shock. It was so different to what I was doing in the Philippines. My hands would bleed because they worked so fast and I couldn’t keep up! I would come home to Danny and say, ‘look at my hands!’ It wasn’t what I was hoping for, but we had to accept it. We didn’t have a choice.
“I didn’t stay there for long, because I got pregnant soon after starting. I started working again when my daughter, Lois, was about six months old. At the time, her godparents were working at Autoliv, which was a seatbelt factory in Campbellfield. We had to provide food and make ends meet, so I applied to work in Autoliv and I was accepted. I started as a casual in December 1995, but the factory shut down over Christmas.
“After that, I got a job at a Steggles chicken factory, but I only stayed there for less than a day. I couldn’t take it. I couldn’t take the smell of the chicken and it was very cold in the factory, so I said ‘never again!’”
Settling into Seatbelts
When the far less pungent Autoliv assembly line restarted in the new year, Maria didn’t hesitate to return.
“I was in the Buckle Line. I started in the easy jobs and gradually learned how to turn the seatbelt into a finished product. We alternated which station of the assembly line we worked at, so you got to learn the entire process.
Maria at an Autoliv open day with her daughter, Lois.
“Immediately, I realised that you had to work very fast, because seatbelt production was booming. We weren’t just making buckles for the local car industry; we were exporting too. There were lots of customers; Ford, Toyota, Holden, Mitsubishi and even Nissan at the start.
“It was very physical. On the GM-H line, you would be standing for eight hours, but because there were eight people on the assembly line, you got to rotate. You could only sit down at one of the stations, but everyone was doing the same thing, so it was equal. You just had to go along with it.”
The Filipino Generation
Maria found herself spending at least eight hours a day with close colleagues in similar circumstances.
“A lot of new families were there and it helped them to set up in Australia. Everyone was doing overtime and money-wise, it was really good for all of us. Every week you got the money and you always wanted more! It made the camaraderie amongst the workers very enjoyable.
“At the time, they were saying that it was ‘the Filipino generation’. There were lots of Filipinos when I started and after that, a lot of Indians joined as well. There were also Turkish people, Lebanese people, Macedonian people and Samoan people. It was very diverse when I was there.”
An Autoliv group photo.
The Beginning of the End
Heading into the latter stages of the noughties, the shockwaves from deteriorating Australian car sales hit automotive component suppliers hard.
“As the industry was starting to slow down, the number of casuals was falling and there was no longer any overtime. Our bunch wasn’t the first to be offered redundancies, but you knew what was going on when you heard the news. The media then came to Autoliv and they were talking about the business going overseas because of cheaper labour. You just knew it was time to look for another job.
“When we had the contract with Ford, we were making over 800 buckles per day, but by the time I left, we were only making about 300. It felt like the best time for me to move. The redundancy offer was good and I didn’t want to wait and then lose that offer. Autoliv was very supportive during the transition, from offering the package to looking for jobs.”
Looking Back
Maria has since moved into aged care, but fond memories remain of her 13-year stint in seatbelt assembly.
“We started our lives in Australia at Autoliv and the camaraderie between the workers was so good. Even when we were working, we were talking about what we cooked the night before and what was happening in our lives.
“Every time someone had a birthday, the celebrant had chocolates and somebody else would bring something to share with everyone for morning tea. There was always something for lunch as well. We would trade recipes and try to cook it and then bring it to work. That was every day! It was like a big family. Plus, during that time, there weren’t many mobile phones, so we had a real connection.
“I have stayed in touch with a few of the people who I worked with. There was a time when someone organized to have a reunion in Buckle Line, which is where I worked. The turnout was great, because everyone wanted to know what happened after Autoliv.
“For us, my husband became a nurse. He was working in aged care and said I should give it a try. I have found that aged care has some different challenges. Seatbelts are just assembly, whereas aged care is much more task-orientated with people and the culture is very different.”
What Manufacturing Meant
From seeing how it supported families to the pride in assembling a life-saving safety component of Australia’s best-selling vehicles, the end of Australian car manufacturing was difficult for Maria and her colleagues to see.
“When we saw the new Ford models every three years, there was a lot of excitement knowing we made the buckles. When you are in an Australian Ford, you look at the date and wonder whether you made it! We always felt a lot of pride in that.
Another Autoliv group photo.
“As the industry slowed down and we knew a few of the places were closing, we were trying to calculate how many people would be affected. It was a domino effect for the whole industry which was very sad, but ultimately, we all needed to think about our futures.
“I would say that Autoliv helped a lot of young families achieve what they dreamed of, like owning a house and supporting your children.”
The Vergel Driveway
We finished off by asking Maria about the cars that shouldered the Vergel family’s adventures as her daughter, Lois, began a painstaking search for photos through the family albums.
“The first car we had was an Australian Nissan Bluebird. It was second-hand, but it was still good. We bought it for around $5000 dollars. The only thing that went wrong with it was the windscreen wiper. We used it for a long time.
Maria and Lois with the family’s Australian-built Nissan Bluebird.
“Then, we bought a Mitsubishi Magna that was second-hand, but almost new. We had that car when we were living in a unit in Thomastown.
“After that, we bought a Ford Falcon for $10,000 dollars. It was a 1997 model. I used it for years and years and it never had a problem. Even my son used it when he got his licence. We only moved that car on recently. It was still a great car, but it became too expensive to run a big, old car for the driving we were doing.
“We currently own a Toyota Camry which was the last model to be made in Australia. It’s a good car. It has a lot of space and it’s great to drive.”
The seatbelt buckles assembled by Maria and her colleagues at Autoliv continue to save lives and they have each made profound contributions to our car industry.
Once more, a big thanks to Maria and the Vergel family for their support of Chasing History and for having us around for dinner before the interview! Maria’s daughter, Lois, took the exceptional portraits for this article.
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