GRAND RAPIDS, MI – There is a ripple effect when a big employer closes in a community that extends beyond those out of jobs trying to figure out next steps.
I have lived in a few states and know how a shutdown also threatens local businesses and governments that have come to depend on the money that comes from the company and their employees.
I remember our 2008 article about General Motors informing workers one Monday afternoon in October that their 72-year-old plant in Wyoming would close by December 2009. The vast stamping plant employed 1,500 people, who had taken concessions more than once to help survive…