Workers bewildered, angry as public fails to embrace aid
04.12.2008 07:47
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- Source: toledoblade.com
As U.S. automobile industry executives beg, plead, and struggle on Capitol Hill to gain support for a federal bailout to save their businesses, auto-plant workers in northwest Ohio are struggling with the idea that a majority of Americans do not support saving their jobs and what they call America's middle-class way of life. Some workers say most Americans do not understand the importance of the U.S. automotive industry and the impact its failure would have on all Americans' lives. A CNN national poll released yesterday showed that 6 of 10 Americans oppose using taxpayer money to give financial aid to Detroit's Big Three automakers. Autoworkers such as Nicole Jones, 39, of South Toledo, an assembly line worker at the Toledo Jeep Assembly complex, question why it was so easy to gain congressional support to bail out the banking and insurance industries earlier this year, yet so many Americans seem opposed to saving her company and millions of jobs. "It kinda hurts because we work hard to build a good product," said Ms. Jones, a single mother of two. "It's kind of like they're spitting in our face. … People who work hard and keep this economy going, we're nothing. If you have something and you own this, you own that, you can get what you want, but if you work hard to achieve something, you don't matter." Ms. Jones was one of dozens of United Auto Workers union members gathered yesterday on the factory floor of the assembly complex owned and operated by Chrysler LLC, where company Chairman and Vice President Tom LaSorda hosted a town hall meeting to show support for federal aid that the Big Three automakers say they need to stay in business. Sherry Goins-Speiker, 39, of West Toledo, a 15-year veteran at the Jeep complex, said many people believe UAW workers like her make too much money. She and Ms. Jones said they earn about $60,000 annually. 
Sherry Goins-Speiker, 39, of West Toledo, a 15-year veteran at the Jeep complex, said many people believe UAW workers like her make too much money. She and Ms. Jones said they earn about $60,000 annually.
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