Jan. 27, 2009
Portraits Of Hardship
Meet Some Of The People Impacted By The DHL Layoffs In Wilmington Ohio
-
(CBS)
-
60 Minutes The Air Park A look at recent events impacting the Wilmington Air Park.
- Stories
- Economic Storm Batters Ohio Town
According to the mayor, one out of three households has a family member working at the air park.
In 2003, German shipping giant DHL bought Airborne, in an attempt to grow it's U.S. presence dramatically, and take on shipping powerhouses UPS and Federal Express.
The merger was rocky, there were service disruptions, and customers left in droves. With last fall's economic crash, DHL was losing $6 million a day in the U.S.; layoffs started coming by the hundreds.
The company announced that it would suspended U.S.-only ground and air services, to solely focus on international freight instead. Now thousands of employees are finding themselves out of a job and the city in serious trouble.
© MMIX, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Recent Segments
Scroll Left Scroll Right
Add a Comment See all 15 Comments
- My heart goes out to all those loosing their jobs at the airpark AND surrounding business'' affected by the closing of the air park.
I really like the attitude of Mike, the guy making the knives. He knows what it takes to make it and I am sure he will do great!!!
I feel the problem at DHL comes down to "poor management" period!!! Shame on you high paid CEO''s for taking advantage of the very people that were making your paycheck!!!!
And as for people being upset about having to pull thier child out of college....What are you thinking anyway???!!! If a "child" over 18 is attending college because his/her parents are paying for it all, what are they learning? Maybe they need to consider a job and paying for their own tuition?!! Especially, if mom and dad are loosing their job! I would think those folks have much more to be concerned with than having to stop paying for thier kid to go to college!! Soo many people live beyond thier means and expect a handout! It is shamefull! The old attitude of giving our children more than we had has gotten clear out of control. What happen to "working for what you have"!
It isn''t just Wilmington! It''s everywhere! It could be much worse! These hard times should be a wake up call to all of us, to look for small miracles, see things in a positive light, and do your part! - Reply to this comment
- 60 Minutes - maybe you should have considered the other company that is also affected by DHL''s decisions. Your show was all about ABX employees and how they have been affected. These are ABX employees not DHL employees. Maybe ABX should be taking care of it''s employees better! What about AStar? Not one word on your news story about them. AStar is 49% owned by DHL and flies 50% of it''s cargo. AStar is experiencing the same things as the ABX employees. My husband is a pilot for AStar and even though we don''t live in Wilmington, you can bet our lives have been strongly affected by the decisions that DHL has made. If you are going to present a news story, you need to make sure you cover everything and give all the facts, not just the ones that you feel make it news worthy!!!
- Reply to this comment
- This story most certainly hit home with me, At least in this case the jobs went away. For those of us in the IT industry, our jobs were not lost because our company went under. My company has made a profit every year I%u2019ve worked for them.
Some one figured out that with computers most IT jobs can be done from anywhere, %u201CAnywhere%u201D has become India.
I wish 60 minutes would do a story on the thousands of American jobs shipped overseas.
I have about 60 days or so left. (it%u2019s going to take that long to train my replacement). I%u2019ve been looking for a job since mid December, there are none.
My wife lost her job last week, I don%u2019t know what we are going to do.
One of our directors (who was retained) advised me to start my car in my closed garage. He thought it was a big joke. - Reply to this comment
- I must admit I was a bit surprised at the position that 60 minutes represented on this piece. I have a family memeber affected by DHL as well in the NY area. Over the past 5 years, DHL has given the employees a lot of information about the future of DHL in the U.S. and how the employees would be affected. This included notice of 6 months to 1 year that most of the employess should expect pink slips. 60 Minutes depiction exploits the people of Wilmington and their situation. I certainly feel bad for the people of Wilmington, but when you are in a company town, you need to plan for these contingencies, however brutal that sounds. I am very surprised at the unabalanced reporting of this story.
- Reply to this comment
- This is only the tip of the story and some more investigation into how the Airborne merger took place would yield names like John Mcain, Halliburtion, and the defense department. Wilmington is not only ABX but DHL''s sort facility, many of these people are DHL employees not just ABX. I was there the day we had an all hands meeting and John Mcain came to tell us how great it was for a German company to come in and buy up all it''s competitors. CSPAN recorded it, surprised it never came out during the campaign.
As soon as DHL bought airborne it started loosing a million dollars a day. Consider the amount of jobs that DHL also eliminated via mergers over the past 5 years. They also bought Loomis, Exel, Danzas,and several others. Look for failures here in the coming year as well. - Reply to this comment
- This is only the tip of the story and some more investigation into how the Airborne merger took place would yield names like John Mcain, Halliburtion, and the defense department. Wilmington is not only ABX but DHL''s sort facility, many of these people are DHL employees not just ABX. I was there the day we had an all hands meeting and John Mcain came to tell us how great it was for a German company to come in and buy up all it''s competitors. CSPAN recorded it, surprised it never came out during the campaign.
As soon as DHL bought airborne it started loosing a million dollars a day. Consider the amount of jobs that DHL also eliminated via mergers over the past 5 years. They also bought Loomis, Exel, Danzas,and several others. Look for failures here in the coming year as well. - Reply to this comment
- Here is a question, how many of the people interviewed in this story, work for DHL. Let me help you out. NONE. From what I can tell they all work for a DHL contractor (ABX) that has been over charging DHL for years. What is ABX doing for their employees?
- Reply to this comment
- Maybe the people of this town could buy the DHL air park at the auction when DHL abandons them completely and start their own freight company. I ship FedEx and USPS because DHL was too expensive. The rates were consistently higher than FedEx. That''s what killed DHL really. No good reason to ship with them.
- Reply to this comment
- Please remove my post, as I was not done editing it. I accidently hit publish. I will post my thoughts when I have had a chance to edit them. SORRY!!
- Reply to this comment
- People of Wilmington amd Clinton County...
How many millionaires/billionaires are in your town...How many people make over $250,000 in your county...
How are those Bush tax cuts treating you...
Your county - Clinton- has you voted Republican for 40-50 plus years.. Why don''t you look at the voting record for your Republican Congressman (Rep Mike Turner) and Senators over that period of time.
What do you people expect... Your surprised... Mmm DHL made a cold hearted business decision and now we are to feel sorry for you.. Sorry but I don''t... No good jobs... mmm
No health insurance?
COBRA too expensive...
Financial Aid for college?
Unemployment Insurance?
Bankruptcy reform?
Anti Union laws...
Trillion dollars for an unnecessary war...
Deregulation, deregulation...
Now you want help ???
Wake up people, next time why don''t you vote with your economic interests instead of listening to your Sunday morning preachers and F*X News.
I''m sure Bush feels bad for you... Remember him the compassionate conservative!!!
This is what happens when people vote against there economic interests.
WAKE UP PEOPLE!!! - Reply to this comment
- I''m sure Bush feels bad for you... Remember him the compassionate conservative!!!
This is what happens when people vote against there economic interests.
WAKE UP PEOPLE!!! - Reply to this comment
- It is amazing that people are so awful as to not have some compassion for people. I bet that when it hits home in your county and to your family, your tune will change. This wasn''t a pity piece. It was far from it...those people were just telling their story. I think it was a great idea for 60 minutes to have such a show. Where real people''s faces are put to the numbers of this horrible crisis we are in. You should be most ashamed if you can not find a bit of sympathy for people. These are not people who has laid up on welfare, they have actually worked and you are calling them lazy...nor did every one in Wilmington vote Republican. Take a look at the people who don''t work and can. Where are your comments for them? These people just wanted a job to wake up to. Have some sense before you post.
- Reply to this comment
- I wonder how many of our politicians will take a pay cut to help our economy??
- Reply to this comment
- I too worked for DHL Express for 21 years. The only objection I have to your report is that the German company is not DHL but Deutsche Post. I loved DHL before the merger and before DP. As portrayed in your report we were a family and I sat and cried as I was watching it all over again for the Wilmington employees.
- Reply to this comment
- I to am layed off from DHL. My terminal in Beachwood was closed. I think the devastation DHL has brought to this Country was being planned as the ink was drying on the Airborne merger. What has happened did not happen overnight. Funny how everything fell into place for them. I say take your International packages and go back to Germany!! YOU''VE DONE ENOUGH HERE!!
- Reply to this comment
