Why Flint is such a hard place
Why Flint is such a hard place 21 Feb, 2009 01:02 AM Two days before Christmas, Brian Sassman, 25 and a father of two, arrived for work in Peoria, Illinois. "They had 36 of us picked out. Our time cards were missing, and we went into the office and they were laying us off with no warning," he recalls from behind the wheel of the taxi he now drives along Peoria's wide streets. His former employer makes ladders for Caterpillar, the heavy machinery company that is the lifeblood of this city of 350,000. "We were told it was because they had lost the business with Caterpillar - because of Caterpillar losing so many jobs," Sassman says. He considers himself lucky to have found work as a taxi driver, even though the money is a fraction of his welder's wage. Since Christmas the city has been rocked by news that Caterpillar will lay off 20,000 blue collar workers and 5000 managers and support staff, nearly a quarter of its 112,000 global workforce. ...