Local residents express shock
Wednesday, June 04, 2008
MORAINE — Tom Schroeder, laid off March 3 due to the American Axle and Manufacturing strike, went back to work Friday.
His happy return to Johnson Controls' West Carrollton office was cut short Tuesday with the news that General Motors Corp. was closing its Moraine assembly plant by 2010.
Sherry Gross, kitchen manager at the Upper Deck Tavern next door to the GM Moraine plant that is closing. 'It just hard to believe it would not be there some day,' she said. "Everything that we put out on our shipping docks goes out to GM," Schroeder said. "If GM sneezes, we blow our nose."
The GM plant employs 2,500 people, but the numbers affected by the closing could be quite higher. Johnson Controls' office employs more than 400 people, Schroeder said.
Johnson Controls' officials could not be reached for comment.
People across Moraine expressed shock, concern and sadness Tuesday to the news that GM will close the plant.
"I don't know what we're going to do," said Sherry Gross, kitchen manager at the Upper Deck Tavern, an eatery near the plant that's popular with plant workers. "They're like our family. These are people I've seen every day for lunch."
The tavern was adversely affected when GM eliminated a shift and restricted certain workers from leaving the plant for lunch. Gross said her sisters have owned the tavern for 14 years.
"It's scary," Gross said. "It is really, really scary. It's just hard to believe that it wouldn't be there someday. It's a sad ending to something I grew up watching all of my life."
Duane Isaacs, owner of the Treasure Island restaurant near the plant, said the plant's closure will hurt his carry-out business.
"I feel bad for the people. A lot of those folks have been there a long time," Isaacs said. The workers are "not only customers, but friends."
"Two thousand jobs is a lot of jobs to lose," Isaacs said. "You don't know where these folks are going to go."
Treasure Island customer Carl Durbin of Centerville said the plant's pending closure "was no secret" because GM had not announced a new product line for the plant.
With a demand for more fuel-efficient vehicles, "GM has got to restructure their whole line," Durbin said.
Many suppliers and other secondary businesses also will be hurt. "It will affect a lot of people before it's over," Durbin said. "It's going to affect Moraine big time."
Elaine Allison, a Moraine city council member, said, "This was not the anticipated outcome we were hoping for. This hopefully is not the end of a era, but time will tell us that."
City officials will keep trying to get GM officials to reconsider the plant's future.
"The city is looking at every possible option," she said.
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2057or lgrieco@DaytonDailyNews.com.
