Main > Everything Else

Punching Out- One Year in a Closing Auto Plant , by Paul Clemens

(1/3) > >>

danny_galaga:
Just finished reading this book. In a word- Poignant.

From someone he interviews:

"So, I'm on the fourth floor, inventorying this equipment, and I hear this errerrerr- strange noise. So I walk to the stairwell and go down to the first floor, and, I swear to God, there, on the first floor, is a guy buffing the floor. Of a building that's going to be torn down next month. The only two people in the building are him and me. And I stopped him and said 'What are you doing? This building's going to be torn down in a month.' And he said, 'Really? I wondered.'"

Paul Clemens was born and raised in Detroit. Seeing empty factories there is so common people don't even notice. One day he thought about what happens after a plant closes down. He tracks down the Budd automotive plant, which had been operating since the 1920's or so. It was Budd who invented the all-steel car body, and then also steel wheels. This was a huge plant. 86 acres of land. 2 million square feet of buildings. They made body parts for Ford, Chrysler, GM. They all but designed and built the first Ford Thunderbird.

Paul spends a year or so with the crew tasked with dismantling and scrapping the presses. The presses weigh hundreds of tonnes and need to be skillfully dismantled because they have been sold to factories in Mexico and Brazil.

He puts names to the end days of this plant. It's not a political book, but a sad look at the way things are going. I'm not in a related industry, but as a postman, I see parallels in the slow demise of my own workplace.

Well worth a read (",)

Mikezilla:
Stuff like that bums me out so I try to avoid it.  :'(

mpm32:
I always said when the US stops making stuff we're going to be in a world of trouble - and here we are...

Dartful Dodger:

--- Quote from: Mikezilla on October 28, 2011, 12:24:52 pm ---Stuff like that bums me out so I try to avoid it.  :'(

--- End quote ---

Why bother reading a story that could eventually be the story I'm living.

ed12:
sad indeed,to bad we allowed our gov's to sell us out
shame on them,shame on us

ed

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page

Go to full version