Death of A Plant……What a relief??????

August 27th, 2010. The day the bomb dropped, the day when all the months of rumors, and all the speculation ended. The Plant where I have worked for the past fifteen years is closing in seven months. Ahhhhhhh! Although this is pretty bad as news goes, I can say that a weight was lifted off of me when the announcement came. No more wondering, no more media hype, no more stress added to the normal day to day life in this manufacturing environment. To say I was happy would be stretching the truth, although there are several positives that can come from this negative.

I have commuted 80 miles each way for the past 11 years on 3 different shifts. I have logged 350,000.00 miles on one vehicle, 11,000 on a second vehicle and 71,000.00 on a third. It will be close to a half a million miles when all is said and done next year. That’s approximately 6,250 trips from my house to work, or 10,937 hours sitting on my rear in the car! You can guess the first positive, right? Approximately 16,666 gallons of gas burned which isn't helping our carbon footprint or my bank account while I help those less fortunate than I, (The Oil Companies)!

Almost 11, 000 hours of time sitting, doing nothing, just trying to stay off the bumpers of lets say a million cars, and the radar guns of thousands of CHP's. That’s 458 days of driving 24 hours a day! Over a year of my life spent sitting in traffic to get me to my job! WOW! Hopefully you are seeing another positive here? We moved from the Bay Area so that my wife could stay at home and raise our children and it has definitely been worth it. Now that they are a little older and more self reliant, they can help us through this transition. We tell them not to worry, but I know they still do, if even for a few minutes. This is definitely not a positive. My wife is stressing and just like during the last media blitz, every time she starts to calm down, someone calls to make sure she is ok and here we go again.

We have met some great people who are very supportive and who show a genuine concern for our family. Many who have themselves been faced with the same dilemma. This economy is the worst I have seen in my life time and now it has reached out its ugly head and is trying to take a bite out of my world. The one thing it doesn't know is that my family won't go down easily. Not without a fight! I started this life with nothing, and have earned all that I have. No hand outs, no inheritance, no one paid my way through anything. I have worked hard to make my way in this life and no plant closure can change that. Sure there will be adjustments to our way of life, but that happens through out ones life. More time with my family, a smaller carbon footprint, no wearing out car after car, and no getting up at 0300 in the morning. Hmmmmm…. Positives.

We will get through this time and will be stronger for it. I have always believed that things in life are thrown at you to test your ability to survive them, to learn from them, and hopefully prevent them from happening again. Why this challenge is coming at this time can not be answered by me, or could I have prevented it. What I do know and can say is that how you react to the challenges set before you, defines you. It proves what you are made of. Nothing feels better than knowing that you worked hard to earn something, the sense of accomplishment, the pride you feel every time you think about it. It has been estimated that the closure of my Plant will affect 50,000.00 workers through out the state. Given the current economic situation in California, this will be disastrous.

Less revenue from payroll taxes, less money being spent by consumers, more draw on the unemployment system. Foreclosures, repossessions, the list goes on and on. Could the plant have been saved? We may never know. While there were a few politicians who expressed their interest and concern, it was too little too late. Again! Don't get me started on that subject!

For the men and women who I have gotten to know in my time at the plant, I wish you all the best. I hope you find your way through to the next phase of your lives. Keep your family close and remember those who shared a part of your life while at work..

I would personally like to thank the company for the 15 years of employment, the people I met here, the life this job afforded me. I met the love of my life here, had 4 beautiful children while working here and learned a great deal about managing and dealing with people here. I will miss many of you. To the little Devil with the pitchfork that has been sitting on my shoulder these past months, reminding me, taunting me, keeping this in every waking moment of my thought process, good riddance! That and only that is why when I heard them announce officially, I thought to myself about the Death of a Plant…...What a relief!!
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