Joerns closed its plant in Stevens Point, Wis., in 2012 after years of gradually outsourcing work to China. It let go 175 workers. Now the 62-year-old former local steelworkers union president works a 2-11 p.m. shift at a fan factory.
No more local fish fries on Friday nights with his wife, or his side job for 25 years as town chairman in Dewey, population 975. He hasn’t yet earned a week of vacation. Retirement has been pushed back.
“You had the job, you figured you were planning out how things were going to go,” King said. “Now you’ve got to back up and rethink.”
Establishment economists, government and business officials argue that trade deals are critical in a global economy, and great for America. But critics like organized labor call them “death warrants.”
And in blue-collar communities in Wisconsin and across the industrial Midwest, that economic angst, coupled with a sense of betrayal, helps explain the roiling politics of 2016.
Wisconsin votes Tuesday. Soon after come other industrial states, including Pennsylvania. And all could be battlegrounds this fall in the general election.
A lot will look like Milwaukee, once known as “the machine shop to the world,” now grappling with a new economy. ...
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