Closing of Monroe, Michigan, factory marks the end of a way of life

The conditions surrounding the announced closing are all too familiar. Ford Motor Co. never intended the plant to be anything more than a source of quick profit before selling it. Established in late 2005 as a “temporary business entity...to prepare 23 former Visteon Corp. [a Ford Motor Co. spin-off] facilities for sale to other parties” (Monroe Evening News, 5/11/07), ACH is being closed sometime in 2008 because, according to ACH spokesperson Della DiPietro, “there were other competitive suppliers available and no buyer interest in the plant” (Monroe Evening News, A11, 8/25/07).

The United Auto Workers union (UAW) also played its usual despicable role. Robert Cebina, president of UAW Local 723 admits to having helped ACH gain tax abatement in return for a broken promise that it would not shed employees (Monroe Evening News, 5/11/07); and while DiPietro claims that the decision to close the plant “was made not behind closed doors but over a two-year period with a lot of involvement with the UAW and with the work force,” members of that workforce certainly sound as if the plant closing came as a complete surprise to them.