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Cont'd
Chess, the NUMMI plant worker, came to California from Louisiana as a child when her father got a job at the carmaking plant, which was then owned by General Motors.
Although her father did not even get his high school equivalency degree until he was in his 70s, his career in the auto industry afforded the family a middle-class life and paved the way for Chess and others in her family to get similar jobs.
Chess started working at the plant in 1975. When GM shut its operations there in the mid-1980s, she moved to Oregon and worked as a bank teller.
Chess returned in 1991 to work at the plant, which by then had reopened as NUMMI, a joint venture between General Motors and Toyota.
Chess and her co-workers already have had their hours cut because of the downturn in auto sales, and in part because of that she recently made the difficult decision to allow her house in Antioch, Calif., to fall into foreclosure.
The housing woes many are facing on top of their employment concerns have led her and her family to joke darkly that if they cannot find new jobs, they’ll all be reduced to sharing the same cardboard box.
Although she has seen some jobs in her field as a training coordinator, most require a college degree that she doesn’t have. And at age 53, Chess worries that employers will favor younger workers over her extensive experience. She hopes that racial bias won’t play a role in her job prospects.
“It’s hard to tell, would it be race or age? Either one I’m still scared,” she said.
Chess also fears the effect the plant closing might have on her daughter, who worked summers at the plant while she was in college and recently endured a difficult job search of her own. Although Chess’ daughter did eventually find work, it was not in the field she studied in college.
“I don’t want her to really get set back even further because I’m losing my job,” Chess said. “She has a college education, and it’s hard for her to find a job.”
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