From a recent shoot w/ a group of steelworkers who lost their jobs when the company closed up shop and moved its operations to Mexico. Just another day here in Rust Belt Ohio, where more than 250,000 factory jobs have been lost since 2000.
These guys' experiences are particularly unnerving: the company broke the news on short notice and didn't even have the guts to tell the workers in person, instead leaving it on the union chief to pass the word down. Meanwhile, armed security personnel stormed the factory floor and ordered the workers to step away from their equipment. And in the greatest kick in the gut of all, after termination the workers were contractually obligated to report back to the factory and help a crew of Mexican laborers dismantle and pack up all the machinery.
Read more of their story here.
Its one that has echoed loudly through Ohio's Mahoning Valley industrial area for decades, but of particular poignancy lately as the Democratic presidential candidates have swooped through trying to court potential voters w/ rhetoric about economic recovery, "green collar" jobs, trade, NAFTA, CAFTA, etc. etc.
Maybe I was listening to a bit too much Billy Bragg while driving home after the shoot, but I was livid at my perceived helplessness in knowing that American corporations are basically under no restrictions from shipping their jobs out of the country--they say they need to "remain competitive in a global economy", and gov't cheers its own "hands off" policy on big business. Money makes the world go 'round--its extremely frustrating.
And moreso than usual, this issue hits a personal nerve w/ me. The company that laid off these steelworkers did so by shuttering plants in Niles and Garrettsville, the town where my dad grew up. Two towns over from there, my dad works for another manufacturing company that also closed and sent its production to Mexico last year. My dad was fortunate enough to keep his job amidst all the chaos, but had to stand by and watch many of his long-time colleagues walk. The bullshit irony of my dad's situation is that in the subsequent reshuffle, one of his newly-defined duties is to travel to the Mexico plant every few months and help make sure its running efficiently and productively.
So today in Ohio we go to the polls in the presidential primary, casting our vote and, faithfully hoping as we do each time, that these little penciled-in ovals might be our voice and that just maybe the "change" that has become the prevalent buzz word of this season's rhetoric might actually produce real results.