A Company Town Holds On For Life

(CBS)  Just a month ago, a 5-million square-foot GM plant was the heartbeat of Lordstown, Ohio, producing 1,500 cars a day and employing more than 4,000 people, CBS News correspondent Seth Doane reports.

"It's a real odd feeling, because it's dark and everything and it kind of reminds you that, hey, this thing could close, and this is what it would look like," said John Tarchick, a 31-year veteran of GM.

Tarchick was one of the 2,800 employees asked to temporarily stay home for the month of January.

While they all hoped to return, today 800 of those would not.

On average, 30 percent of General Motors plants across North America will be temporarily closed in the first quarter of 2009. It's GM's attempt to align production at facilities like the one in Lordstown, Ohio, with demand in the marketplace.

But "aligning production" means upending lives. Bobbi March already lost her GM job in December.

"Here I am: a college graduate, you know, I want to be able to provide on my own," March said. "Very tough."

It was tough enough to ask her parents for money, but now she needs government assistance, too, for food stamps.

In Ohio, 227,000 people filed new claims for unemployment benefits in 2008 - that's up 35 percent. Now the state needs federal help to meet the rising demand.

And Lordstown, population 3,600, is holding on for dear life. Seventy-five percent of the town's tax base comes from the GM plant, according to Mayor Michael Chafee.

"We're a one-horse town in that regard," Chafee said.

He estimates that for every job lost at the plant, at least two others are needed to replace it due to the difference in pay.

"It's not like I have a folder on my desk that says 'in case of 4,000 layoffs, open the folder' and see what comes next," he said.

Today John Tarchick learned he missed the layoffs by three people in his department.

"I guess it doesn't take a crystal ball to see that when the economy is going slow and they're not selling cars, that you can't keep producing if you're not selling them," Tarchick said.

That's a business calculation much easier to compute than to cope with.

[observer2020]

I live by military bases and in the 911 aftermath, they have cut access on certain roads. This effectively shut down an entire town in New Jersey because the only people that can get to it now are military. Never heard anything about that. But I guess it just didn''t matter. It wasn''t because of the economy, it was because of the military.

[cbscrash072]

Every single problem we face with the economy ....comes directly from......lobby driven legislation, and the lack of proper oversight......Of congress from BOTH parties over the last 40 years,,,,,career politicians harloting out their influence to the lobby dollar.Now it has come home to roost.......and BOTH parties are still in bed with the greedy lobbyists....only now......they have opened up the treasury for them and are trying to sell the people a huge pile of cr*p. Trusting the same people to get us out of the mess THEY made is stupid.They need to be removed at once....you don''''t put broken parts back into any machinery and expect it to work right,,,and keeping the same fools that caused the problem......Is insane thinking. They have committed TREASON and need to be addressed with that fact....they took an oath to the people...NOT CORPORATE AMERICA.

Posted by tincup356 at 10:49 AM : Jan 27, 2009

Just want to stress its BOTH parties fault.
I also agree with the treason charge. Lets take them out on the national mall and shoot them. I bet it would help the economy.

[babooph]

What whiners -they should be proud their nation has been able to give such a massive 10 year tax cut to the rich-think how bad things were before the tax cut!

[boatcaptain1]

Glidescube....Face it people. Gm is losing because Toyota and Honda make better cars.
__________________________________________
If you only knew the fact Glide.
GM and Toyota built roughly the same # of vehicles in 08. The real difference is the GM is tied to legacy costs like paying for retiree benefits and medical costs.
Now, wouldn''t you love to have a job like that?....where the company actually gave a rats behind about it''s workers!
It''s about the people of a country surviving, prospering, then growing and building the standard for future generations.
Look at the bigger picture Glide......do you see a future with no pensions-benefits....or would you rather have those things in life?

[glidescube]

Face it people. Gm is losing because Toyota and Honda make better cars.

[mdalerwill]

So how about michigan, California and New york their entire state government is democrats and yet those three states have the highest unemployment rates in hte country. Why is all the manufacturing has moved out of those states?
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Posted by mccain08nc at 09:59 AM : Jan 27, 2009

California''s legislature has a democratic majority (not the entire government, and let''s not forget the Republican governor) but cannot deal with the budget crisis because they require a 2/3 vote to make important changes and NEITHER party will stand down from partisan positions to fix the problem caused primarily by allocations voted in by proposition at the ballot box.

[lilvinnyb]

At the same time your losing jobs, Obama just made the price of producing cars and fueling them more expensive on Monday.

Can''t blame Bush for this one.

Ever notice why new car factories are avoiding the northeast...unions who drive up costs. The "chickens coming home to roost" is really the UAW!

[tincup356]

Every single problem we face with the economy ....comes directly from......lobby driven legislation, and the lack of proper oversight......Of congress from BOTH parties over the last 40 years,,,,,career politicians harloting out their influence to the lobby dollar.Now it has come home to roost.......and BOTH parties are still in bed with the greedy lobbyists....only now......they have opened up the treasury for them and are trying to sell the people a huge pile of cr*p. Trusting the same people to get us out of the mess THEY made is stupid.They need to be removed at once....you don''t put broken parts back into any machinery and expect it to work right,,,and keeping the same fools that caused the problem......Is insane thinking. They have committed TREASON and need to be addressed with that fact....they took an oath to the people...NOT CORPORATE AMERICA.

[presjfk]

The first place for the bread lines to form during a bad economy is Ohio. Even during good times, many suffer there. For decades Ohio has suffered greatly from restructuring, outsourcing and a changing economy. If I lived in Ohio, I would move!

[bozworth4]

Where are the Union Dues??? Don''t worry your union will not let you take any pay adjustments downward.
If you are told long enough, "you are doing well". You WILL start to believe it. Hang on help is on the way. Union leaders are meeting now to figure your raise, and most importantly THEIR pay increases.