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Results: When The Jobs Dry Up, What's Next?

Published on 11/28/2018
By: Harriet56
2169
Business
1.
1.
Oshawa, Ontario has been home to General Motors for 111 years (100 of those as GM, 11 as Chevrolet) , with almost everyone in the city of 308,875 people either working for the manufacturer, had family who did, or knowing someone who did. GM announced on November 26, 2018 that they would be shutting down the Oshawa plant, affecting 2,500 current union workers and 300 management. GM has had its share of troubles over the past years, but this news has hit the city hard regardless. Over the years, Oshawa has become known for much more than only GM -- they now have three post-secondary institutions and the Oshawa Clinic, the largest, multi-specialty medical group practice in Canada. Once the unofficial "automobile capital" of Canada, they have not had that distinction for a while, although GM is still the largest employer in the area. This news has hit them hard, and many feel it may be a hard blow for the city to recover from. Have you ever lived in a town or city that was so dependent on one business or industry?
Oshawa, Ontario has been home to General Motors for 111 years (100 of those as GM, 11 as Chevrolet) , with almost everyone in the city of 308,875 people either working for the manufacturer, had family who did, or knowing someone who did. GM announced on November 26, 2018 that they would be shutting down the Oshawa plant, affecting 2,500 current union workers and 300 management. GM has had its share of troubles over the past years, but this news has hit the city hard regardless. Over the years, Oshawa has become known for much more than only GM -- they now have three post-secondary institutions and the Oshawa Clinic, the largest, multi-specialty medical group practice in Canada. Once the unofficial
No
55%
1191 votes
Yes, where I currently live
17%
372 votes
Yes, somewhere I used to live
13%
278 votes
Not as dependent as this city, but fairly important to the city
15%
321 votes
Other (please specify)
0%
7 votes
2.
2.
This is a subject that has been the inspiration of not one, but several Bruce Springsteen songs. In 'My Hometown' he sang of Freehold, New Jersey, his hometown, and the closing of a factory ("They're closing down the textile mill..."). In 1985, the year after the song was released, the 3M company closed their factory in Freehold, bringing this verse to stark reality. Springsteen played a benefit show for the affected workers on January 19, 1986 at the Stone Pony, in Asbury Park, New Jersey. Introducing this song, he said: "The marriage between a community and a company is a special thing that involves a special trust. What do you do after ten years or 20 years, you wake up in the morning and see your livelihood sailing away from you, leaving you standing on the dock? What happens when the jobs go away and the people remain? What goes unmeasured is the price that unemployment inflicts on people's families, on their marriages, on the single mothers out there trying to raise their kids on their own. The 3M company: it's their money, it's their plant. But it's the 3M workers' jobs. I'm here to say that I think that after 25 years of service from a community, there is a debt owed to the 3M workers and to my hometown." Do you think that a company or business closing down like this can affect not only the employees, but an entire community and town?
Yes
65%
1415 votes
Not sure
14%
300 votes
In some cases, yes
13%
289 votes
No
8%
165 votes
3.
3.
Billy Joel also sang about the devastation a business closing can do to a town in his 1982 song "Allentown". The song's theme is of the resolve of those coping with the decline of the American manufacturing industry and the emergence of the Rust Belt in the latter part of the 20th century. More specifically, it depicts the depressed, blue-collar livelihood of residents of Allentown, Pennsylvania in the wake of Bethlehem Steel's decline and eventual closure. Joel remembered reading about the decline of the steel industry in the Lehigh Valley, which includes the cities of both Bethlehem and Allentown. While the steel industry was based in Bethlehem with none of it in Allentown, Joel titled the song "Allentown" because it sounded better and was easier to find rhymes for. Joel played a benefit concert in Allentown, Pennsylvania on December 27, 1982 as this song was climbing the charts. Are you familiar with this song?
Yes
46%
989 votes
No
54%
1180 votes
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