0 comments
22nd Jan 10
aslanPresident Obama returns to Ohio, to Lorain, a small town he visited a couple of years ago.
He spoke at the National Gypsum plant, a drywall company, promoting an employment package that “must be done in a responsible way, without adding to the already obscene debt that has grown by $4Trillion under George Bush.”
He said he would “pay for every part of this job-creation agenda – by ending this war in Iraq that’s costing us billions, closing tax loopholes for corporations, putting a price on carbon pollution, and ending George Bush’s tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans.”
A few weeks after Obama’s visit, there were excessive layoffs at National Gypsum.
“He was very, very upbeat, very optimistic about a lot of things that needed to be addressed,” Dave Beetler, the Operations Manager for National Gypsum recalled of that day. “And you still hear in the news today, you know, little hopes and hints of the recovery. But personally, on my level, and looking through the city, we don’t quite see that yet. Until we see people back to work, we just don’t quite see a recovery.”
Beetler is one of two out of the original 70 still working at the plant.
“We employed 70 people and at the height of our production, when things were really booming, we were– we were working 24/7,” he recalled. “A lot of the guys were working six, some working seven days a week and making good money, you know. They were just all stopped.”
What questions would he have for the president?
“Why don’t you concentrate on getting jobs established, get the unemployment rate down, then worry about the other” issues? Beetler says.
Ted Fenik worked for National Gypsum for nine years before the plant went idle. “I definitely don’t blame Barack Obama for me losing my job,” Fenik said. “When the housing industry took the slide down, you know, that’s what killed us.”
“We just need to bring more manufacturing jobs back to America,” Fenik said. “You know, it just seem like they’re all going overseas (outsourcing).”
Ken Sauvey, 55, remains unemployed and has been without benefits for over a year.
“We’re trying to save our house,” Sauvey said. “We don’t want to lose our house. Everything we make goes towards the house and pays the bills just to stay above ground. When that runs out I may have to leave the state. I don’t know. That’s just a scary situation.”
He has been seeking employment for two years. “They just don’t hire a 55 year old man. I’ll put it that way. And so, it is frustrating.”
Sauvey said he would ask President Obama ” to keep up his work for the working man, the people that need it the most. I know he’s got a lot on his plate.”
