town
that didn't carry any nondairy creamer.
I went to work and announced...
that I was going to give a monthIy coIumn
to a FIint auto worker.
The owner instead toId me to run
an investigative report on herbaI teas.
I toId him I had a better idea.'
Let's put the auto worker on the cover.
The owner wasn't amused and decIared
that CaIifornia and I were a mismatch...
just before he offered me
my free U-HauI back to Michigan.
-Hello, Dad.
-Hello, son.
-lt's been a long time.
-lt sure has.
-Where's Mom?
-ln the kitchen.
Why, your hands are filthy!
-Go upstairs and wash them.
-Okay, Mom.
Okay, so my homecoming
wasn't quite Iike that.
In fact, I wasn't back in FIint more than
a few days when the bad news hit.
This is the CBS Evening News,
Dan Rather reporting.
Good evening.
General Motors confirmed it today.
lt is going to close plants
employing almost 30,000 workers.
Today we are announcing the closing...
of 1 1 of our older plants.
While Detroit and Pontiac
will certainly be hurt by the shutdowns...
the effect on Flint
is absolutely devastating.
Devastating wasn't the haIf of it.
Maybe I got this wrong...
but I thought companies Iay off peopIe
when they hit hard times.
GM was the richest company
in the worId...
and it was cIosing factories
when it was making profits in the biIIions.
We do not have any plan
to cut our workforce by 80,000.
That was kind of
a what-happens-if type of thing.
So this was GM chairman Roger Smith.
He appeared to have a briIIiant pIan.'
First cIose 1 1 factories in the U.S...
then open 1 1 in Mexico, where
you pay the workers 70 cents an hour.
Use the money you saved by buiIding cars
in Mexico to take over other companies...
preferabIy high-tech firms
and weapons manufacturers.
Next, teII the union you're broke...
and they happiIy give back
a coupIe of biIIion doIIars in wage cuts.
Then take that money from workers...
and eIiminate their jobs
by buiIding more foreign factories.
Roger Smith was a true genius.
l think our employees
have got a new emphasis on job security...
and we want to try
and help them with that.
-What do you have to say to Roger Smith?
-lt's gonna be rough.
l can't mention it on television.
This was to be
the first of many Iayoffs in FIint...
the finaI day for the GM truck pIant.
l think most of you are aware...
that this is the first major plant closing...
to take place in Flint.
Let me rephrase that.
This isn't a plant closing.
lt's a loss of one product line.
My friends and I decided to pose
as a TV crew from ToIedo...
to sneak inside the factory.
I wasn't exactIy sure
what a TV crew from ToIedo Iooked Iike...
but apparentIy the ruse worked, as we
fiImed the Iast truck going down the Iine.
What's everybody so happy about?
We just lost our jobs.
Everybody's applauding.
They just lost their jobs.
We're trying impress upon the employees
that are being laid off...
that there is nothing out there for them...
to depend upon for the future.
The best thing Michigan and GM can do
is get rid of Roger Smith...
and them other sons of bitches.
That seemed to be
the generaI consensus...
as I taIked to many GM workers
about their chairman, Roger Smith.
-What would you like to tell Roger Smith?
-l'd tell him to retire.
He can't look an auto worker
in the eye, because....
-He should be feeling guilty.
-Most people are hungry. He's not.
l'd tell him to get off his big bucks...
and start giving some of it
back to its workers.
l'm sick and tired of these damn fat cats.
l could say a few choice words,
but l'm a lady and l was raised a lady...
so l won't say what l really feel...
but l could use some unsavory language
as far as the fat cats.
Fire Roger Smith!
There were those
who had a different opinion in FIint...
Iike Tom Kay,
a spokesman and Iobbyist for GM.
l'm sure that Roger Smith...
has a social conscience
as strong as anybody else in the country.
Because a guy is an automobile