Today, the “Made in Ohio” tour is rolling through Avon Lake, where a Ford Plant keeps 1,900 jobs in Ohio.
Now retired, Peggy Gheta worked at the plant for more than 30 years. Peggy has done it all, from the assembly line to working in quality control.
Taken together, Peggy, her husband, and her father, have worked more than 100 years in Ohio’s auto industry. All three worked hard in the industry, and all three rely on their pensions.
When asked what the auto recovery means to her, Peggy is very clear:
“That’s my livelihood. I rely on my pension. Who would’ve ever though that GM would file for bankruptcy? [The auto rescue] means that pensions are secured. That families and their healthcare are secured.”
Because Peggy and her family worked for Ford, they weren’t faced with the threat of bankruptcy, but as a UAW worker Peggy knows well what GM and Chrysler employees faced—many of them were her friends and family.
“The snowball effect of what could have happened is tremendous,” she says, “You have to think of the autoworkers, the retirees, and the suppliers—all the parts that go into making a vehicle. And you have to think about the car dealerships. It would have been devastating to the economy, to this region.”
1 in 8 Ohio jobs are supported by the auto industry, and Peggy is glad President Obama stepped in when others wouldn’t.
“Romney said let the chips fall where they may, and there are thousands of thousands of lives who would have been affected by that.”
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