JANESVILLE: AN AMERICAN STORY When the nation's oldest operating General Motors plant closes...
"At 7:07 a.m., the last Tahoe reached the end of the assembly line. Outside it was still dark, 15 degrees with 33 inches of snow — nearly a December record — piled up and drifting as a stinging wind swept across the acres of parking lots.
Inside the Janesville Assembly Plant, the lights were blazing, and the crowd was thick. Workers who were about to walk out of the plant into uncertain futures stood alongside pensioned retirees who had walked back in, their chests tight with incredulity and nostalgia. All these GM’ers had followed the Tahoe as it snaked down the line. They were cheering, hugging, weeping.
The final Tahoe was a beauty. It was a black LTZ, fully loaded with heated seats, aluminum wheels, a nine-speaker Bose audio system and a sticker price of $57,745.
Five men, including one in a Santa hat, stood in front of the shiny black SUV holding a wide banner, its white spaces crammed with workers’ signatures. “Last Vehicle off the Janesville Assembly Line,” the banner said, with the date, Dec. 23, 2008. It was destined for the county historical society."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/national/2017/04/15/janesville/?hpid=hp_hp-top-table-main_janesville-900am%3Ahomepage%2Fstory&utm_term=.ea941327ce6f
I have tears in my eyes reading this. We left the plant in August so were fortunate not to be there on that terrible day in December. We were laid off for almost two years...as the Ohio plan went down soon after our arrival...I will always be grateful to President Obama for saving my husband's job and the American auto industry.
