QUALITY STAPLE OF AREA WORKSHOP

STE. GENEVIEVE -- Scott has never seen those "big greasy things," but he knows what to do with them when he feels them.

Scott, who became blind at 13 from a car wreck, pulls nut-and-bolt attachments from a box and slips them onto the ends of tie rod clamps. His margin of error is slim. If the 22-year-old fastens them too tightly, the clamps are rejected by machines at an automotive plant. When they're too loose, they fall off.

If Scott did a poor job with the tie rod clamps, Ste. Geneieve's sheltered workshop for the physically and mentally handicapped would not have a contract with the automaker, said Fred Grein, shop manager. But the contract has gone on for 15 years now.

Ste. Genevieve's sheltered workshop is 24 years old and full of successes. State Rep. Patrick Naeger, who is involved with creating a new sheltered workshop in Perryville, has called Ste. Genevieve's a model for other workshops in Missouri, which has 91 shops, employing about 8,000 people.

The workshop never aimed to be a model, Grein said, but simply a place where the handicapped could enjoy meaningful work.

"It was started in 1976 as a not-for-profit by a group of citizens concerned for their children," Grein said.

The original group of 15 handicapped workers has grown to 70, with last year's revenues exceeding $2 million, Grein said.

And while hourly pay averages $1.90 at the state's sheltered workshops, Ste. Genevieve's average is $4 an hour.

"We're the third or fourth highest paying workshop in the state," Grein said.

But despite the large cash flow, expenses to provide a safe, efficient work place for the disabled are high. Most years, the workshop breaks even, Grein said.

As a business, the workshop has grown only because it manufactures wooden pallets for shipping, the manager said. Since the workshop began constructing pallets in 1978, orders from the St. Louis area have increased to now make up about 80 percent of revenues.

Manufacturing is one aspect that sets Ste. Genevieve apart. Most state workshops don't make their own products. They only put together small parts as subcontractors.

Nevertheless, jobs like putting insulation covers on wires, gluing siding samples onto a plastic display holder or assembling zipper pulls for duffel bags keep 50 of the 70 handicapped workers busy.

"What some of these things are used for, I have no idea," said Grein, walking around the facility.

Care is taken by Grein and his staff to allow this piecework to proceed smoothly. Color coding and wooden frames that assist in placing parts for assembly are widely used.

Workshop staff members have pieces and parts lain out in advance for handicapped workers that staff members sometimes know better than the workers know themselves.

"We have to know if they work best with their right hand or left," said Brenda Stuppy, a workshop manager. "Sometimes you have to figure that out for them because they don't know that."

Despite a high turnover of contractors, Grein said their level of quality has been noticed by manufacturers who give them piecework.

"We never have to make a cold call looking for business," he said. "They call us."

The workshop facility is spread over two buildings. The 21,000-square-foot building where 7,000 pallets are made weekly is mostly automated. The subcontracting plant is 22,000 square feet, with additions planned soon.

The workshop is careful about worker placement, Stuppy said.

"Even though a person has a handicap, a sheltered workshop might not be the best place for him," she said.

The screening process for a disabled person seeking employment at the workshop starts with Vocational Rehabilitation, which is part of the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. Testing conducted there determines placement. Each individual's results are then sent to Jefferson City for final certification.

Not every applicant is hired, Stuppy said.

"We have to have meaningful work for them to do," she said. "Our board's philosophy is to run like a business and have plenty of work to do."

Ste. Genevieve's workshop board has worked hard to avoid the appearance of conflicts of interest, Grein said. A separate Senate Bill 40 board administers money from a county tax levy designated to fund activities for the handicapped. Crossover between the workshop's board and the Senate Bill 40 board does not exist, Grein said.

The two group homes for the handicapped in Ste. Genevieve County are operated independently from the workshop, and the county Association of Retarded Citizens oversee social activities.

"Our board says we're an employer, and that's all we're going to do," Grein said.

In his 13 years as manager, Grein said he and the workshop's board of directors have worked hard to build a benefits program for the disabled employees.

"We have 12 people who have been here since day one," he said. "Some of our employees will want to retire, and we want to compensate them."

Besides nine paid holidays, lunches and door-to-door transportation throughout the county, employees are eligible for a death benefits program after 10 years.

"It really means something to have that for a lot of them," Grein said.

The workshop would like to offer a health plan, but limiting conditions from other government programs stops them, Stuppy said.

"You have to be careful that increases in benefits or wages don't knock them off of three other programs," she said.

A man who earns $7.50 an hour at the workshop was told he couldn't keep his federal supplemental security income of more than $500 monthly if he continued at that wage, Stuppy said. He chose to drop the subsidy.

"His mother was so proud of him," Stuppy said.

Some disabled workers with less severe handicaps have tried jobs outside the sheltered workshop. They failed miserably, Stuppy said.

They were disasters, she said, because the other workers attitudes didn't help the situation.

The man earning $7.50 an hour tried, but co-workers sabotaged his work, Stuppy said.

In contrast, managers come in early at the sheltered workshop to arrange the work stations to make assignments easier.

"We are more to these people's families than an employer," Stuppy said. "We are their peace of mind."