Anger Grips Auto Workers..Sen. Corker Faces Backlash at Home

[Joanne98]

SPRING HILL, TENN., Dec. 12 — As the workers and residents of this small town that launched the Saturn automobile see it, there are several villains in the collapse of the automakers’ rescue plan.

But what stuns many in this place defined by the General Motors auto plant and its 4,200 workers is that no person played a larger role in the demise of autoworker hopes than their own Sen. Bob Corker (R), who is now regarded by some here with the kind of disdain reserved for traitors.

Corker emerged as one of the leading critics of the rescue plan passed by the House. He lashed into the carmaker chief executives when they came to Washington looking for help. And it was Corker’s alternative proposal, which was a plan that would have been tougher on union workers, that ultimately failed.

In a dozen interviews with workers here, many suspected that he only feigned interest in rescuing Detroit’s Big Three. Instead, they say, he wants to crush GM and its union to benefit foreign automakers, such Nissan and Volkswagen, who have opened or are opening nonunionized plants in the state.

“We’re deeply disappointed in Senator Corker — that’s the official statement,” said Mike Herron, union chief at the GM plant here. “But actually my members want to choke him.”

The anger of the workers and the harshness of their words reflect the larger tension between the old Detroit-based domestic auto industry, with its unionized workforce, and the new transplant industry in the nonunion South. Emotions were stoked by the fact that GM, citing the economic downturn, had just announced that it will halt production at the plant for January and the first week of February.

Corker “has somehow ignored the fact that there’s a major GM plant in his own state,” said Ben McFarlane, who retired from the plant this summer and opened a local bar where many workers go. “And if this plant goes, then my business goes, this whole town goes, and the effects cascade across the country.”

At a news conference and in interviews yesterday, Corker, a millionaire

Continued>>>
http://gangbox.wordpress.com/2008/12/14/rage-in-spring-hill-tennessee-gm-autoworkers-outraged-that-their-senator-torpedoed-the-auto-industry-bailout/

[Oceansaway]

1. UAW retirees & members in TN.

should NEVER EVER FORGET this...especially at election time for

this asshole Corker....fuck him !!

[roguevalley]

8. no one who works with their hands should. Everyone one of us,

no matter how separated from this business are going to fall from this. We all swim together or we drown. I personally propose making a raft of republican senators.

[madrchsod]

2. the saturn plant was built with union labor and union steel

the steel mill i worked at provided i-beams for the construction after the iron workers refused to use canadian steel. northwestern steel and wire in sterling, ill closed it`s doors because of the chinese dumping ingots in to america ......no fucking fair trade for us.

[Omaha Steve]

3. He is up for re-election in 2012

Recall him maybe?

K&R!

[Strathos]

4. I live in Tennessee and watched these idiots elect Corker

I feel horrible that they are without jobs, but as long as Tennessee equates republicans with "god" and "the working man" they are gonna get fucked.

This might be what is needed to wake this fuckin' state up and slap them around a little bit to force them to realize that republicans care about the bottom line and they HATE unions. The last thing they want is workers to have rights and to be protected. They think the "company" or the CEOs should have ALL the power and the worker bees should be grateful for the scraps.

FUCK THE TENNESSEE REPUBLICANS! I think they are just as corrupt as Blagojevich and his mob.

[DainBramaged]

5. It used to be God, guns and gays in the south, maybe not any longer

When Corker comes up for re-election in 2012 it will be Union Jobs, patriotism, America first, maybe guns, not so much gays as Obama will fix that and the Country will have turned a corner, and he will be kicked out on his ass. I am positive he will never get a dime from the Big 3 again.

[Strathos]

6. I certainly hope so

I love Tennessee but get so frustrated at how backward some of the people are. I had to set someone straight recently who said "Obama is a Muslim because his daddy is a Muslim and that's Muslim sperm". I told her, "you do know Muslim isn't a race, right?". She left with her draw dragging the ground.

I hate fuckin' idiots. So I just tease them. LOL

[DainBramaged]

7. DO these idiots even realize his Mom was White? Mom's genes rule right?

The religion of the Mom is the religion of the child, right?


I would have answered " You mean white muslin? The same color as the KKK's sheets?"

[4_TN_TITANS]

12. Preach it brother...

The people in this state need to feel some real economic pain to the tune of what other states are experiencing. IMHO that's the only way to lift the fog so they can see what Republican godliness is all about.

[BeFree]

9. Corker

It is all too evident that Corker is anti-workingman. His bread is buttered by the cream from the rich asses asses. He and all his bedfellows have finally come out of the closet and shown their true feelings toward what makes this country what it is: the workingman.

He will rue these days.

[southerncrone]

10. I grew up in Chattanooga at the same time as Corker; he's 3 yrs older.

Although I did not know him then, & still do not know what "part of town" he hails from, I do know that Chattanooga has always been a workingman's town. It's was a heavily industrialized town in those days & still is to some extent. The voter base in his home town is not made up of wealthly folk & most are NOT union members. There has always been major opposition to unions there. Anytime a plant spoke of unionizing, there would be riots & threats. Sans, no union.

What he may not understand is that even though he is taking credit for landing the VW plant in Chattanooga, it cannot stand alone without the parts feeder plants that exist in TN. Nearly every county in Middle TN has some type of manufacturer of auto parts. East TN has quite a few also. These plants will be hard pressed to survive only on the business of VW, Nissan, Toyota, BMW, Honda & Mercedes (these are the Southern auto assembly plants). Most of these parts plants are mid-size to small, but they employ thousands of voters. The Big 3 make up a good size chunk of their business.

We have numerous retirees from the auto industry in TN also. Many left in the 50's, 60's to work in Detroit because there just weren't those good jobs here. As a result, when they retired, they moved back to their home state. These retirees all worked for the Big 3. They need to keep getting their retirement checks to live. They vote.

When the domino effect hits, this state will be brought to it's knees. Mr. Corker surely know this since he was TN Commissioner of Finance & Administration for 2 yrs. The problem is he doesn't care. He could care less about the people of this state. If he did, he could not with good conscience do what he is now doing. He is paying back a * favor now.

I'm so sick of the politics of our country. We must do better.

[machI]

11. .

[jody]

13. I’m curious given the many anti-Corker posts in this OP, what specific parts of his position do

you find objectionable, see link below?

Corker Delivers Floor Speech Regarding the Detroit Three’s Request for Federal Assistance