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The last 'sad' day for 4,300 employees at a closed car plant

By RICK VAN SANT

NORWOOD, Ohio -- After 22 years on the job, Bill Miller brought his camera with him on his final day of work.

'Trying to get some pictures of some friends I probably won't be seeing much of anymore,' he said.

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Some of the friends Miller took pictures of had tears in their eyes as they walked from the gigantic, but antiquated, General Motors car assembly plant Wednesday. It was their final walk from the job.

GM, which has too many old plants producing too many new cars, shut down its 64-year-old factory in the Cincinnati suburb of Norwood on Wednesday. It threw 4,300 people out of work, many of them oldtimers like 22-year veteran Miller. And like Miller, many were bitter.

'It's a sad day,' said Miller, 50. 'I'm angry at GM. They're building 11 new assembly plants in Mexico, where they're going to pay $5 an hour. We make $14 an hour here.

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'I'd work for $5 an hour -- if you could live here on $5 an hour the way you can live in Mexico on $5 an hour. But you can't. The cost of living is so much more here than in Mexico.'

Wendell Spurlock had mixed emotions on the final day. The 19-year veteran was losing his job, but gaining a $22,000 car. Spurlock won a raffle for the last car to come off the assembly line Wednesday night - a bright red, sporty Camaro IROC.

'Wendell's been following the car around the assembly line all day,' reported plant manager Herb Stone. 'He's shaking hands with all the workers who add a part to it.'

Despite employee unhappiness with GM, Stone said the production line rolled smoothly and efficiently on the final day.

'It's a difficult situation for all of us, but I'm very proud of all of them doing a great job. We're up 30 percent in quality over last year.'

Stone said it is not difficult to understand why GM closed the plant.

'This is one of GM's older facilities and we're land-locked here,' he explained. 'GM has 10 or 11 new plants that are laid out in a more efficient manner and some of the older plants have to close.'

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City of Norwood officials aren't that understanding, however. The GM plant has provided 30 percent of the city's tax revenues and earlier this month the city filed a $318 million lawsuit against GM, alleging that implied understandings between GM and the city had been broken.

GM officials said they were helping laid-off employees with money and job re-training.

Yvonne Holston said GM helped her begin another career.

'It's a sad day for me because I've worked here 14 years and really liked it,' she said. 'But, GM is paying for me to go to school to study real estate so I can become a property manager.

It was a 12-year career at GM that Joe Burr left Wednesday.

'I hate to leave because I made a lot of good friends here, but life goes on and there will be life after GM,' said Burr.

'Some people blame the Japanese imports for hurting us, but that's oversimplfying it. You just have to blame the economic times we're in. There once was a time when the public would buy every car you made. Those times are gone.'

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