(NJ) Emotional day for GM workers as last vehicle rolls off line

[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.

<snip>

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.

...more...

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

[neuvocat]

1. Now that gas prices are through the roof

how many more times will this happen?

[Tux]

3. Until

The Japanese buy out Ford and GM. We may see our suto industry either crash or be bought out competely.

[newscott]

2. More like this

Johnny 99

Well they closed down the auto plant in Mahwah late that month
Ralph went out lookin' for a job but he couldn't find none
He came home too drunk from mixin'Tanqueray and wine
He got a gun shot a night clerk now they call'm Johnny 99

Down in the part of town where when you hit a red light you don't stop
Johnny's wavin' his gun around and threatenin' to blow his top
When an off duty cop snuck up on him from behind
Out in front of the Club Tip Top they slapped the cuffs on Johnny 99

Well the city supplied a public defender but the judge was Mean John Brown
He came into the courtroom and stared young Johnny down
Well the evidence is clear gonna let the sentence son fit the crime
Prison for 98 and a year and we'll call it even Johnny 99

A fistfight broke out in the courtroom they had to drag Johnny's girl away
His mama stood up and shouted "Judge don't take my boy this way"
Well son you got a statement you'd like to make
Before the bailiff comes to forever take you away

Now judge judge I had debts no honest man could pay
The bank was holdin' my mortgage and they was takin' my house away
Now I ain't sayin' that makes me an innocent man
But it was more 'n all this that put that gun in my hand

Well your honor I do believe I'd be better off dead
And if you can take a man's life for the thoughts that's in his head
Then won't you sit back in that chair and think it over judge one more time
And let 'em shave off my hair and put me on that execution line

[silverweb]

4. End of an era.

My dad ran the powerhouse for the Linden plant for many years and I often visited him there. So many memories from so long ago....

All GM had to do was make hybrids instead of Hummers and I'll bet the company wouldn't be in such sorry shape.

[cliss]

5. There's about to be more tears.

GM stock is sinking like a rock. GM Financing is now one step above junk bonds. I suspect that GM is going to try to get out of its pension obligations.

All those people who worked for decades and are now expecting a pension, had better come up with an alternate plan. They're going to renege on it.