Presidential GOP candidate Sen. John McCain will be in Wilmington Thursday afternoon to meet with a small group of residents to gain a greater understanding of the difficult situation facing thousands of Wilmington-based workers at the DHL Air Park, and to learn more about the community counteraction.
The meeting is not being organized as a campaign event or political gathering and is not open to general public admission, said Mary Houghtaling, a key local organizer of the get-together.
About 20 to 25 people are expected to be invited to attend, Houghtaling said Tuesday evening. They are anticipated to include a cross-section of nonprofits, regional task force members, area businesses, officials from ABX Air and ASTAR Air Cargo as well as union representatives.
The discussion will last about an hour, according to Houghtaling.
McCain reportedly will arrive for the meeting at Kelly Center on the Wilmington College campus about 3:30 p.m. Thursday. Earlier in the day, he will participate in an 11:30 a.m. town hall meeting in Lima. After the meeting in Wilmington, McCain is expected to attend a fundraiser Thursday evening in Butler County, according to The Columbus Dispatch.
Houghtaling hopes a participant in the grassroots “Save the Jobs, Save Our Community” movement will have the opportunity to present to McCain copies of petitions opposed to DHL’s planned partnering with UPS. The plan currently is projected to cause the elimination of between 7,400 and 10,000 jobs.
At last report, some 11,000 people have signed the petitions, publicly registering their objection to the cost-cutting and job-ending plan of DHL’s parent company Deutsche Post World Net, a global corporation that reported a profit of more than $6 billion last year despite losing $900 million in its U.S. operations.
Most of the southern Ohio workers facing the loss of their jobs reside in rural regions, including gateway Appalachian areas such as Highland County.
Reader Comments Posted: Friday, August 08, 2008
Article comment by:
W C A
Ask the senator how many thousant he received from DHL and loybist Davis. He must not want my vote, while in Wilmington he just met with a few people. Several people are angered with him. JUST THINK AND THEN VOTE
Posted: Wednesday, August 06, 2008
Article comment by:
Ronald L. Ash
It is no wonder why DHL lost $900m the way they needed to paint everythin yellow and DHL in red letters and lighted signs. They also paid for several ABX & Astar planes to be painted the same way and believe me that is an enormous exspense.
Posted: Wednesday, August 06, 2008
Article comment by:
Christina Fritz
I would like the scheduled discussion to include the way ABX Air is or more accurately IS NOT communicating with their employees. Their response of "We'll have something to tell you in two weeks....By next week...By the end of the month...etc..." smacks of suspicious behavior. Especially in light of the fact that the mechanics and pilots were left out of a severance package when contracts were written up last. They are claiming to be working on a severance package, however there are many rumors that it will be offered to a percentage of employees(High timers first). But it will not be offered equally across the board. It is said that at some point, the employees left will NOT be offered a severance package, but instead they will be offered almost 50% pay cut and drastically reduced medical benefits. The fact that they are not coming forth with a clear, definitive answer to how things will play out tells me they are being less than honest and just like DHL , they really don't care what happens to those who work for them. This may not be true, but IF it is not, then why play games with 8,000 families and their lives? All the employees have given their skills and commitment to this company for as long as they have been employed there, and I feel it is reasonable to expect ABX to tell us how things are going to play out at the very least. It would be nice for ABX to take the high road, and communicate with us. I think Sen. John McCain should address this issue.
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