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Washington, D.C. -- Rep. Rush Holt (NJ-12) today participated in an online hearing sponsored by Democratic members of the House Education and Workforce Committee on the crisis facing the automobile industry. The “e-hearing” was called to provide auto workers and their families the chance to share with Congress the impact plant closings and the pension crisis are having on their lives.
“Just before the Thanksgiving holiday, thousands of General Motors employees were given a very unwelcome surprise: they learned that they will soon be unemployed or forced to move across the country in order to keep their job,” said Holt. “Questions have also been raised about whether GM will be able to meet its pension commitments to these and other workers. Until we come up with an equitable solution to the pension funding crisis, workers will remain at risk of losing some or most of what they’ve earned towards retirement. This hearing will enable the employees to make their voices heard to Congress, regardless of where they live.”
The E-Hearing allows Congress to hear from a large number of Americans about how an issue affects them and their families personally. The first E-Hearing was held last spring on the United Airlines pension crisis. The E-Hearing on the automobile industry crisis will open for comment on Tuesday, December 6, 2005. It will remain open until Thursday, December 15, 2005. The web address of E-Hearing is:
http://edworkforce.house.gov/democrats/autocrisis.html
“I have invited former workers and retirees of the former Delphi/GM plant in Ewing to participate in the e-hearing and share what happened to them before and after their plant closed,” said Holt. “Their insight will be valuable not only to my colleagues, but also to the workers and communities who are now facing a similar situation.”
In 1998, the Delphi Interior and Lighting Systems plant in Ewing, New Jersey was shuttered, and nearly 1000 employees lost their jobs. The plant had been a centerpiece in the economy of Ewing and Trenton. It was opened by General Motors in 1938, converted to a plane manufacturing plant during World War II, then returned to auto manufacturing after the war. At its peak in 1955, the plant employed 5,700 workers and produced a half a million parts per day. Just fifty years later, a vacant lot is all that remains of this once vibrant plant.
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