Obama: Friend of the Working Man?

Cue Lou Christie singing "Two Faces Have I"

Twinsburg, Ohio, a charming little community about twenty miles south east of Cleveland, is the home of an annual twins day festival. Identical twins and triplets from around the world gather in Twinsburg once a year to celebrate the bond between identical brothers and sisters.
Twinsburg, appropriately is also the site of the two faces of the Obama administration when it comes to jobs, unions and automakers.

The words had hardly stopped scrolling down Obama’s teleprompter April 30th, that “…the Chrysler bankruptcy ‘will not disrupt the lives of the people who work at Chrysler or the communities that depend’ on them.”, until the next day, May 1st. when Chrysler announced the closing of four plants in four states…the Chrysler Stamping Plant in Twinsburg among them.

It was just about two weeks ago, when the UAW was voting on a new contract complete with concessions in hope of keeping their jobs.

“The future of Chrysler's Twinsburg Stamping Plant will be on the line today (April 29) when workers vote on a new contract, the president of the union's local said.
Doug Rice, president of United Auto Workers Local 122, said Chrysler negotiators targeted plants in New Jersey, St. Louis and Twinsburg for possible closure during contract talks in 2007. Only Twinsburg, with 1,250 workers, remains open.

…"We've kind of been on this hit list," Rice said. The contract proposal in front of workers this week says Chrysler will study bringing more work into Twinsburg at lower, entry-level wages -- about half of the typical worker's pay.
The Twinsburg plan is a small part of the tentative deal between the union and the automaker. Most of the contract focuses on wage and benefits concessions in exchange for taking 55 percent of the company's stock.

Chrysler is alive today thanks only to $4 billion in government loans. President Barack Obama gave the company until Thursday to merge with Italian automaker Fiat in order to get $6 billion more in federal loans -- or file for bankruptcy.
Winning concessions from unions and creditors also is a condition of getting more federal loans.
Rice said he is encouraging Twinsburg workers to vote for the pact because he thinks it will provide a future for them. The language requiring the company to study ways of keeping the local plant open should help, he said.”

According to the Cleveland Plain Dealer,

“Workers at the 1,250-worker stamping plant overwhelmingly approved the contract. Some of them said their support came because they felt they had promises of a future with the new Chrysler.”

Overwhelmingly approved. So, the UAW workers gave Chrysler (and by extension, the Obama administration) everything they wanted. Look what it got them! Obama promised them "change" and unemployment will certainly be a change for the loyal UAW workers in Twinsburg.

The plant is currently scheduled to close at the end of 2010.

Hat tip News Busters
Cross posted at Say Anything