Sadness, relief as a Maytag factory shuts down in Illinois

[Judi Lynn]

Posted on Sun, Sep. 19, 2004

Sadness, relief as a Maytag factory shuts down in Illinois

By Jan Dennis
Associated Press


GALESBURG, Ill. - Bobbi Neice has counted down the days to unemployment for nearly two years but says the early warning did not make it any easier when Maytag shut its last assembly line in this western Illinois city. Neice and nearly 900 other workers walked out of the Galesburg plant for the last time last week, some hauling bargain-priced refrigerators or workbenches and others clutching only years of memories.

"It was hard. It was happy, but sad at the same time. It's been a long two years. Very long," said Neice, 33, who worked at the plant for more than eight years. Her last day was Thursday, the plant's final day of production.

The shutdown ended more than a half-century of refrigerator production at the sprawling plant, which has become a symbol of America's job losses to foreign factories since Maytag announced in late 2002 that it would move Galesburg's jobs to plants in Mexico as well as to Iowa.

Many remained bitter over losing jobs they thought would stretch to retirement.
(snip/...)

http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/business/9699196.htm

[Mace]

1. Wow

http://www.fundrace.org/neighbors.php?type=name&lname=Hake&fname=Ralph&search=Search+by+Name

[w4rma]

2. It stood half of a century but Bush, and his policies, ended it.

And then him, and his flunkies, lie to our faces by telling the rest of us that our economy is recovering.

[JoFerret]

3. I hope someone is organising

those people to vote Bush out.

[laylah]

4. My dad

worked at that plant for over 40 years, retiring in 1979 - '80. At one time, Galesburg also boasted Butler Mfg and Gates Tire Co. Maytag was the last to go. The city/town (of about 33,000) is virtually a ghost town these days. Reagan shut down the mental hospital there in the early '80's. Manufacturing in this part of the country is all but gone...thanks to corporate greed. This must be part of the economic recovery plan. :mad:
Jenn

[davsand]

5. It is Bush AND corporate greed--you are right.

I know I sound like a broken record, but as much as I dislike Bush and his policies, Galesburg began to lose plants before Bush took office. It began with NAFTA and that was on Clinton and Gore's watch.

In this case, Maytag was offered any number of incentives to stay in Galesburg--and they refused. They wanted to pull out. The cash incentives were bigger to go out of country with that plant. The net result of it all is that town and the people will suffer for a long time.

The tax base there is eroded a huge amount by the loss of property value. In a few years the local property taxes will have to go up to carry the funding for the schools and roads. That town is screwed for a lot longer than just the time it will take the displaced workers to find a new job at Wally world or some McJob.

NAFTA has systematically raped American workers and it needs to GO. In the meantime, I urge all of you to remember this and every other plant closure and buy accordingly. When you are shopping for stuff like TVs and small electronics, good luck even finding anything made in the US. IF it ain't made in the USA it is BAD for American workers. Buy with that in mind...

The same goes for buying stocks or mutual funds. Do you know who YOUR 401K is invested with? Are YOU supporting this job loss with your retirement fund? I invested with Calvert--a socially responsible fund. A funny thing about that, is that because those companies pay fewer fines, they typically pay off better over the course of time. The investments pay off better.

I drive American made cars and I buy American products or else I do without. Maybe it is because I live in an Union household, and we've been paying attention for a long time. I only wish everyone else did.

I will NEVER buy another Maytag appliance again...


Laura