“I WORKED IN
TEXTILES ALL
MY LIFE. THA T ’S
ALL I KNEW.”
Virginia Dinah
Russell toiled
for 30 years
making towels
at a plant in North
Carolina. She was
surprised when
the factory shut
down, and felt
it was too late to
start over.
BY BARRY YEOMAN ; Sally and Frankie Stewart felt comfortable
and fulfilled in their work as machine operators for Visteon, an
auto-parts maker created by Ford Motor Company. The plant
in Bedford, Indiana, was clean and well lit, and union wages
meant they could send their two children to college. But just
after the couple began building a log cabin to replace their
weathered home, Visteon started shifting its production
to Mexico to cut costs. Sally, 54, was laid off in 2006. Frankie,
56, stayed on until the plant shut down in 2008.
