HBO’s ‘Last Truck’ shown in Bangor
11/21/09 | 9 comments

HBO’s ‘Last Truck’ shown in Bangor


By Dawn Gagnon
BDN Staff

BANGOR, Maine — Though it happened several states away, the story told in the HBO documentary film “The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant” could have been set here in Maine.

The 40-minute film, which was screened Friday night at the Bangor Opera House by special permission from HBO, tells the story of the December 2008 closure of a General Motors assembly plant in Moraine, Ohio, through the eyes of some of those most affected — namely the 2,500 workers who lost their jobs.

Workers who have been through layoffs in eastern Maine and had a chance to preview the film say it is an accurate and moving portrayal of workers’ experiences in the aftermath of a plant closing.

The film’s message is particularly pertinent to Mainers, who in recent decades have seen the departure of jobs in a variety of once-traditional industries, ranging from shoe manufacturing, papermaking and textiles to poultry farming and processing.

“It’s the same story being told over again,” said Brewer resident Randy Tompkins, who lost his job as a back tender at the former Eastern Fine paper mill in Brewer when it shut down in January 2004.

“No one is immune to this. No one is too employed to be unemployed. There’s just no security,” said Tompkins, 48. “It’s not just here in Maine — it’s an epidemic everywhere. The ‘Last Truck’ could be coming to your town.

“I’ve lived it and still am living it — and I’m not the only one,” he said, adding, “I still dream of running those paper machines.”

For Tompkins, who was a papermaker for 18½ years, the mill closure marked the second time he was laid off by circumstances beyond his control. The first time was in 1985, when American Felt and Slipper closed its Brewer plant five years after he landed a job there right out of high school.

As part of Friday’s screening, the labor group brought in Paul “Popeye” Hurst, who appears in the documentary and who made the trip to Maine from his Ohio home.

“Like I say, you could substitute the last shoe factory, the last mill, the last reporter,” Hurst said in an interview before the screening. “What happened in Ohio is relevant to what’s happening throughout this whole country.”

Asked about the aftermath of the GM plant shutdown, Hurst said, “Most of the highest-paying jobs in Ohio now come with the punch line, ‘Do you want fries with that?’”

Besides the wages and benefits, what Tompkins most misses about his work as a papermaker is the camaraderie, the way he and his colleagues pulled together in times of need, such as during the Ice Storm of 1998 and when a worker experienced a death in the family.

The film screening was followed by a panel discussion featuring keynote speakers Hurst, Communication Workers of America President Larry Cohen and Kevin Gregory, a Maine millworker and peer support worker. Other panelists included a farmer, a child care worker, a former DHL worker and others involved in the fight to improve the lot of the nation’s working class.

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Comments
9 comments on this item
On 11/21/09 at 9:59 AM, SpecialEd wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

Sad story...But how many of these folks drove Toyotas, Nissans, Hondas, Hundais & VW's etc to the theatre?

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On 11/21/09 at 10:05 AM, chriscolby wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

What doe's it matter what they drove. GM is the largest importer of vehicle's in america.Virtually all of the companies that you mentioned have plant's in america and are using american labor. The union's are clearly at fault here, tey have priced themselve's out of the market.

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On 11/21/09 at 10:24 AM, Stevey_Dee wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

Did they show how the unions are bringing these automotive companies to their knee's?

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On 11/21/09 at 2:42 PM, Michigal wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

Right, blame the unions once again for GM MIS-management. It wasn't the UAW who made the decisions on what to sell, or to move the company's production to Mexico and other foreign lands. GM's problems are STRICTLY due to their top managers, aka Roger Smith and his cronies. Period.

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On 11/22/09 at 2:57 PM, commonsence wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

I like how the article quotes pual hurst as saying “Most of the highest-paying jobs in Ohio now come with the punch line, ‘Do you want fries with that?’”. typical of uneducated union auto-workers. These people beleive their job is a right, not a privlidge. I don't blame any BIG 3 companies for moving to Mexico, how much money do they lose every time one of these unoins strick for stupid things.

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On 11/22/09 at 3:47 PM, Stevey_Dee wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

These unions are pricing themselves out of reach of the common man..

A good example is a person making 10 bucks an hour cant aford a car when they are paying the workers 100 bucks a hour to build that car..

The cash for clunkers helped out, but only just for a while.

I bet you there will be a cash for clunkers again next year what do you bet..

Dodge vehicles are absolute junk, surprised they are still around..Atleast ford and GM try to build a good car.

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On 11/23/09 at 10:21 AM, VOM_sux wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

Don't blame the unions for this one.

I have family that were white-collar staff at GM. GM is really about the most bloated and backward example of a corporation I've ever seen. The white collar workers get six-figure salaries while living in one of teh cheapest areas of the country, get a free comapny car (new every 2 years), free gas, "cadillac" health plans, free housing for several years if you're on international assignment, yada yada, yada, - all so they can design ugly cars that fall apart at 100k.

Its not the blue-collar workers who are overpaid, its the management!

At one time, this was a great company that built great cars. They have had many, many wake-up calls and chances to reinvent themselves. They have failed over and over and over.

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On 11/23/09 at 10:24 AM, VOM_sux wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

Oh yeah, by white collar I'm talming about some 22-year old engineer or HR person just out of collage, not the execs. They employ tens of thosands of people like this. When I was 22, not that long ago, I made under 30k!

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On 11/23/09 at 1:42 PM, JackMckay wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

When they reported "Labor Costs", that includes the costs for retirees- including healthcare and pensions. There are 3 retirees for each autoworker at the Big Three. so the pay is south of $35 an hour. And this is FAR LESS than the German auto makers get. It's not that complicated, the profit levels are too high and not enough is put back into the business. We can see it here, IP shut down Costigan and Passadumkeag- both were profitable. It was just that IP wanted MORE profit. Same happened at Dexter shoe + other places.

Our country's getting sold out by people who don't give a damn about anything except making more money.

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