(NJ) Emotional day for GM workers as last vehicle rolls off line [View All]

[UpInArms]

http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/newjersey/ny-bc-nj--lastsuv0420apr20,0,463611.story?coll=ny-region-apnewjersey

LINDEN, N.J. -- The last automobile manufactured in the state of New Jersey rolled off the assembly line to little fanfare Wednesday morning, a quiet but momentous end to an industry that once employed thousands of workers and helped fuel the state's economic engine.

After operating for 68 years, during which it produced nearly 9 million vehicles and manufactured fighter planes during World War II, the General Motors plant here produced its final sport utility vehicle, a white Chevy Blazer.

The GM plant and the Ford plant in nearby Edison, which closed its doors in late February, were the last two auto assembly lines in New Jersey. The GM plant will sit idle until 2007, when union contracts expire. There are no plans to produce any new vehicles at the plant.

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Declining sales of the Blazer and GMC Jimmy led the company to end production of the two SUVs that had been assembled at the plant since 1993. The plant had cut back from two shifts to one in 2002, causing about 1,000 layoffs. The 1,000 remaining workers learned last year that the plant would be ending production in early 2005.

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In the background, I hear The Boss singing:

My home town
Lyrictext I was eight years old and running with a dime in my hand
Into the bus stop
To pick up a paper for my old man
I'd sit on his lap in that big old Buick and
Steer as we drove through town
He'd tousle my hair and say son take a
good look around this is your hometown
This is your hometown
This is your hometown
This is your hometown

In '65 tension was running high, at my high school
There was a lot of fights between the black and white
There was nothing you could do
Two cars at light on a Saturday night,
In the back seat there wasa gun
Words were passed, in a shotgun blast
Troubled times had come, to my hometown
My hometown
My hometown
My hometown

Now Main Street's whitewashed windows and vacant stores
Seems like there ain't nobody
Wants to come down here no more
They're closing down the textile mill across the railroad tracks
Foreman says these jobs are going boys
And they ain't coming back to your hometown
Your hometown
Your hometown
Your hometown

Last night me and Kate we laid in bed talking about getting out
Packing up our bags and maybe heading south
I'm 35, we got a boy of our own now
Last night I sat him up, behind the wheel
And said son take a goold look around,
This is your hometown