........jobs, jobs, jobs......

  Tuesday…..April 15th…….Tax day, started off pretty smooth for me. I started this blog, Muley’s Cafe that morning. Got my first post up about some real cool jazz and was kinda giddy. Then, I got a call around noon from the Mrs. about a hurriedly called meeting at National Gypsum, her employer since November 29th, 1979.

 Now, let’s go back to February 24th. Barack Obama decide to pay a visit to Lorain to talk about jobs, as noted in The Chronicle the following day. One of the topics discussed was the loss of jobs in the U.S., the state of Ohio and the city of Lorain.

“I’ve seen what happens to a community when a factory closes and jobs move overseas,” he said before pledging to never “sign any trade agreement as president that does not have protections for our environment and protections for American workers.”

 Now, let’s go forward again to April 15th, and that phone call. When I hung up the phone, after assuring  my wife there wasn’t anything to worry about, a very tight knot started to form in the pit of my stomach. after arriving at work in downtown Cleveland, and doing a few chores, I decided to call my wife and see what happened at the meeting. The news was not good as you all know by now. National Gypsum will close on or about June 16th, 2008 according to the letter my wife brought home that day (with a few dried tear stains on it).  That tight knot in my stomach is now about to explode.

Take note of these dates:

April 15th

June 16th

 Have any of you readers ever heard of Worker Adjustment and Retaining Notification Act (WARN) ? I never have, so I searched google for it, and this it what I found:

OVERVIEW

The Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN) protects workers, their families, and communities by requiring most employers with 100 or more employees to provide notification 60 calendar days in advance of plant closings and mass layoffs.

Employee entitled to notice under WARN include managers and supervisors, as well as hourly and salaried workers. WARN requires that notice also be given to employees’ representatives, the local chief elected official, and the state dislocated worker unit.

Advance notice gives workers and their families some transition time to adjust to the prospective loss of employment, to seek and obtain other jobs, and, if necessary, to enter skill training or retraining that will allow these workers to compete successfully in the job market.

  • Generally, WARN covers employers with 100 or more employees, not counting those who have worked less than six months in the last 12 months and those who work an average of less than 20 hours a week.
  • Employees entitled to advance notice under WARN include managers and supervisors as well as hourly and salaried workers.
  • Regular federal, state, and local government entities that provide public services are not covered by WARN.

You can view the entire document from the U.S. Dept. of Labor here. 

 

Who’s really being protected here?

 Do you see what I see? This Federal Law, that is to protect the workers and their families, requires that employers with 100 or more employees are required, by law, to notify the workers within 60 days of any plant closings or mass lay-offs.

Again, those dates:

April 15th

June 16th

61 days

 

“Advance notice gives workers and their families some transition time to adjust to the prospective loss of employment, to seek and obtain other jobs, and, if necessary, to enter skill training or retraining that will allow these workers to compete successfully in the job market.”

61 stinkin’ days

 You gotta be kidding me, my wife, and the rest of her soon-to-be unemployed co-workers have 6o days to adjust? To enter skill training or retraining that will allow workers to compete in the job market? Here in Lorain? This was the only full-time job my wife had since graduating from high school. Just how is she going to compete?

 Now here is the questions I have about this whole post:

 In my sick mind, I believe that when Barack Obama visited National Gypsum that cold day in February, the wheels were in motion already to shut down the Lorain plant. Was Barack aware of this and just promoting his job bull-shit  initiative? Or was National Gypsum using a presidential candidate to promote their corp. ass name? You tell me.

And before I close this post, I want to leave you with this little snippet from our newly elected mayor, Tony Krasienko:

”We want to find out if there is any opportunity to retain these jobs at that plant in Lorain,” Krasienko said. ”Many families are devastated today. The city needs every dollar we can get, but this is an even bigger impact to the workers and their families.”  morning journal 4/16/2008

 Sorry Tony, you missed the boat on this one. While you were wooing Hillary, NGC was devastating the lives of 58 families in Lorain.

(Editors Note)

 To those other 57 workers who got that letter, My heart goes out to you, and my wife Dimitra and I would like to wish you the best of luck in the future and she sends her love to you.