Local retirees support auto bailout

NORFOLK, Va - There's not much activity at the old Ford Assembly Plant in Norfolk these days. Contractors have been disassembling the plant since its shutdown last year.

The closure forced more than 2,000 people out of their jobs. But today, many of them still rely on Ford to survive.

Chris Kimmons is the retired president of the United Auto Workers, Local 919. He told WAVY.com, "Retirees are worried. I'm getting a lot of calls from them. What are we going to do? Will we lose all our retirement? The rest of the benefits and all that."

Kimmons and 2,400 other local retirees are watching Capitol Hill, where executives from the three big automakers are asking for $25-billion for their struggling companies.

"It was sad the way they bashed the auto industry."

The Bush administration is against using some of the $270-billion financial buyout package for the automakers. And in two days of hearings, lawmakers don't seem to be embracing the idea either.

When the executives from Chrysler, General Motors, and Ford acknowledged they took private jets to Washington, D.C., Rep. Gary Ackerman, D-NY asked, "Couldn't you all have downgraded to first class, or jetpooled or something to get here? It at least would have sent a message."

Rep. Michael Capuano, D-MA told the executives he's skeptical about their ability to make significant changes.

"My fear is that you're going to take this money and make the same stupid decisions you made for 25 years," Capuano said.

After watching the hearings, Kimmons said, "It was sad the way they bashed the auto industry... The reason that we're in this shape today is because the trade agreements that [Congress] agreed to do."

Kimmons is hopeful Congress will approve the money. "Nobody's buying nothing now. Everybody's scared to death. The auto industry's been bad for a long time," he said.

Gary Whaley, Norfolk State University's Dean for the School of Business told WAVY.com, Congress should help U.S. automakers.

"If the automotive industry collapses, unemployment jumps, doubles maybe. From six percent to 12 percent," Whaley explained.

He added that a trickle effect could follow if retirement incomes are lost.

"If Ford pensioners aren't getting the money or medical support they need, then they're not going to 7-11 and buying coffee in the morning. So that means the clerk at 7-11 is out of work. The dollars [pensioners] don't get aren't being spent and not multiplying."

Local Ford retirees will meet Thursday to ask about what happens to their pensions if the companies fall. Whaley says for them and for the nation, Congress can't afford to let it happen.

"Our economy is already in a recession, something like that would push us into a depression," Whaley said.