Just commented in NYT on story about Lordstown Ohio plant closing.

[Irishxs]

Sharon | Tn
I feel for these folks, but aren’t they a little guilty of ignoring the signs of progress? Technology has had a profound effect on employment and everyday life. I taught school for 40 yrs and witnessed a lot of changes in that time, but it was my duty as an employee to keep myself current. We cannot bring the past back to life again, and a nation that only looks to the past for guidance is a nation going downhill.


With His Job Gone, an Autoworker Wonders, ‘What Am I as a Man?’
Rick Marsh worked in the car plant in Lordstown his entire life. Now that job is gone. What does that mean for his politics?

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/27/us/auto-worker-jobs-lost.html#commentsContainer&permid=100671860:100671860

[wasupaloopa]

1. There is an old saying that you should walk a mile

in their shoes first.

You have no idea what they are going through.

What you are saying is something a right winger said in a town hall.

We need to make school affordable and available.

To most of them it is not.

In Ohio the workers were told their jobs were safe at a truck plant in Dayton. They worked there for 20 years then the plant closed. The workers were in their 40’s and 50’s by then.

Why do we bail out farmers and corporations and tell these folks they should have seen it coming?

[Irishxs]

4. Elections and choices have consequences. The days of a company "taking care you"

are over. When someone tells you what they are, believe them.

[wasupaloopa]

6. Ever hear of empathy and compassion?

[Irishxs]

5. Ive walked in those shoes. How do you think I learned that?

[wasupaloopa]

7. Yet you have no sense of responcibility here

no empathy no compassion

You learned nothing

To you everyone is an island

It takes us to do something to help people not just scrape them off

[Ohiogal]

2. Is it the fault of the GM employee

or the company .... for "ignoring technology" or "keeping oneself current"?

Generations worked at this plant. At one point years ago GM promised anyone who worked here a job for life. They were proud of the product they built. The workers were very generous giving back to the community at Christmas time and the United Way. The unions took concessions to keep the plant open. Many of the people losing jobs here are in their 50s. What is there for them now? Driving for Uber or clerking at the Dollar Store?

[blueinredohio]

8. Years ago companies needed their employees so they took care of them.

They are corporations, they're in it for the money. They only need that employee until they can figure out how to automate it or send it out of the country to make more money.

[ooky]

10. All too true. This is the nature of the beast.

I think this is another reason more people need to be involved and concerned about what is going on in their local government. Not nearly enough people pay attention to or vote in local elections. Community economic development has a large role in combatting this problem. Diversification of industry, jobs, labor training, long range planning and staying abreast of technological trends are all important to consider.

When all your eggs are in one basket this is the risk.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

3. A more useful perspective might be to look at the barriers and disincentives workers are presented

with when it comes to professional development, ambition, and bootstrapping. it’s great that you had the education and guidance to keep learning. Many people don’t understand the importance of it until much later in their careers. Why not? What can we do to change that?

[msongs]

9. one wonders how many GM workers drive japanese cars nt

[Irishxs]

11. Good question.

[pstokely]

17. do you mean cars made in Japan by anyone or cars built by Japanese auto corps outside of Japan?

Last edited Tue May 28, 2019, 07:21 AM - Edit history (1)

like a Honda built in Ohio or a Toyota built in Texas?

[llmart]

12. Quote about Trump

"Mr. Marsh voted for him, as did a majority of voters in Trumbull County, a small square on the map of northeast Ohio that hadn’t voted for a Republican for president since 1972."

I agree with Sharon that many of these people are thinking they can bring back the past. It's just not going to happen the way they want it to. This has been going on since the early 80's. My roots run deep in Ohio. My entire family were always union supporting Democrats. One of my sisters still lives near Lordstown and she tells me that she feels these people need to live in the reality of today. We were told this over and over again about how technology was going to cause an uproar in the job market in Ohio all the way back to the 80's. Many people took the warning to heart and did one of two things. They became educated so they would have a fall back career and/or they left the state and went to where ever the jobs were. I started college in 1981 as a 31 year old wife and mother of two elementary aged children. My husband of the time, who had a long career in the auto industry found a job in the South. We picked up our family and moved. It was not an easy choice but you do what you have to do. That was many years ago now and here we are with another generation of people acting gobsmacked that a corporation would do that to them.

Automation is here to stay. Oh, and I've seen all the red MAGAT hats in the Lordstown area, so it's really hard for me to have any empathy and sympathy for them.

[Irishxs]

13. +1 agree. Well written post.

[Boomerproud]

14. Great post. My mothers family have been in NE Ohio

since the 1830s. When Mr. Marsh watched that debate and thought it was cool that trump was "landing punches" on Hillary he was happy that someone he didn't like was verbally beaten. I will show my empathy elsewhere.

[llmart]

15. Both of my parents' roots in NE Ohio go back to the late 1800's.

It was always solidly Democratic. I have no idea what happened to Ohio in the past three decades that I've been gone. It's really disappointing to me. I went back to my little rural hometown a few months before the 2016 election and it was almost solid Trump signs. So disheartening. People my age sitting around at the local diner having massive fat laden breakfasts and talking about how Trump was going to bring back their jobs.

[UniteFightBack]

16. I do think that there is very little of blaming of one own's self for one's failings. nt