October 10, 2008 - Day 6

Ford Assembly Plant
The plant had been part of Lorain’s industrial base since 1958. Jobs peaked at about 7,500 in the early 1970s. Ford stopped making Cougars and Thunderbirds there in 1997. During 2005, the work force dropped from about 1,700 to 750. Days before Christmas in 2005, Ford produced its last Econoline in Lorain. About 160 jobs were lost that day.

Loss of the plant meant $2.2 million less income tax revenue for a city that was already struggling with the loss of some 12,000 steel jobs in the past few decades. Lorain passed an emergency five-year, quarter-percent income tax increase to generate $2.4 million a year _ about $62 a year more on a $25,000 income _ but, said Mayor Craig Foltin, the city still cut about 100 jobs, including in the streets and parks departments.

Acuity Lighting Group/Vermillion Manufacturing
The company announced its first round of layoffs in May 2005 and closed in January 2006. The plant made industrial lighting. American Stone purchased the site and now operates out of the building. 465 IBEW jobs were lost.

October 6, 2008 - Day 2

Stop 1
American Standard
Salem, OH
A United Steelworkers (USW) Local 1538 plant, is currently in contract negotiations. There have already been 60 layoffs, and the company is threatening the union that if they do not take a 10% wage decrease, as well as paying more for health insurance, they will ship the remaining 360 jobs overseas.

Stop 2
Eljer Plumbingware, Inc
Salem, OH
Next door to the American Standard facility is Eljer Plumbingware, Inc., another USW Local. This plant made cast iron bathroom fixtures. At one time, the plant employed 700 workers. Right after negotiating a 3-year contract, the employer told workers it could save millions by moving to China. Two hundred and thirty-six jobs were lost.

American Standard 60 Eljer 236 100608 Ohio District 1 Representative Linda Bolon (center) with President Rugola and others gathered there.

Stop 3
Little Tikes
Sebring, OH
Located eleven and one-half miles away in Sebring, Ohio, the Little Tikes plant, a non-union facility that made toys, was closed by Rubbermaid, Inc. and 132 employees were laid off. Some workers moved to the Hudson, Ohio facility, but now that plant is closed as well, and 450 jobs were lost there. Global overcapacity in the toy industry was cited as the reason for the shutdown.

October 5, 2008 - Day 1

11:00 a.m. (Stop 1)
GE Lighting
280 N Meridian Rd.
Youngstown, OH 44509
As part of a global restructuring on 2007 that eliminated 1,400 jobs in North America, GE said it would close the Austintown, Ohio plant which has 73 workers. It is one of three plants that make filaments for incandescent bulbs. Production volumes for these bulbs are down, so the company now can fill all of its orders at the other plants, which are in Mexico and Hungary.
The vast majority of the compact fluorescent light bulbs that are replacing incandescent are manufactured in China.
Fifty-six IUE-CWA jobs are involved

3:30 p.m. (Stop 2) A 5.9 mile walk to a plant in Niles, Ohio.
Amweld
Federal St.
Niles, OH 44446
USW Local 5962 , 102 Jobs

In 2007, Amweld announced it was moving its production of metal doors and door frames to Mexico. The company opened its plant in Niles in 1946.

The next stop was a 3.4 mile walk to a Labor Rally in Niles.
The fifth and final stop for the day was scheduled to be a 10:00 p.m. Candlelight Vigil at CSC Ltd. (Republic Steel). The steel mill filed bankruptcy. Then the plant was bought by Ukranian owners, stripped of its assets, and shut down. Earlier this year, the company began using about 20 acres of the 400-acre site, but the facility is a shadow of itself and employs only about 90 people now in non-union jobs.
More than 1,200 USW Local 2243 jobs were lost here.
The current plant management heard that the candlelight vigil was scheduled to happen, so they called the police and the Road to Recovery group was politely escorted off the property.