When the ‘refrigerator capital of the world’ lost its refrigerator plant

The prosperity promised by free trade doesn't always come ashore for all, as Greenville, Michigan, learned

May 4, 2015 5:00AM ET
by Naureen Khan

GREENVILLE, Mich. — In free trade, economists say, there is creation and destruction, winners and losers. In that equation, Jim and Patty Hoisington count themselves among those who lost.

Theirs is the kind of cautionary tale that opponents of the the massive 12-country Trans-Pacific Partnership point to as they warn against the United States' latest foray with free trade.

For decades, the Hoisingtons, who met on the factory floor after Jim asked a fellow colleague if Patty was “going with anyone,” built their lives around building appliances in this quintessential industrial town, the so-called "refrigerator capital of the world."

Their long-standing jobs with Electrolux, the multinational firm that took ownership of the plant in the 1980s, gave the couple a solid foothold into the middle class. Jim, now 56, made $16.38 an hour. Patty, now 68, made $15.71. It was enough to raise their children, pay the bills, buy a house and still put a little money away in savings at the end of the week for the nearly 30 years they worked there.

more
http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2015/5/4/when-greenville-losts-its-refrigerator-plant.html