I lived in Ardmore in '77, '78 and '79. You were in tall cotton if you snagged any job at Goodyear.
I remember when Halliburton left Duncan and went to Houston. Duncan never recovered. Towns that depend on one major employer never seem to bounce back when that employer leaves.
Mostly true. I grew up in west Texas, Midland-Odessa. Big Springs was a growing town. New refinery going in, Air Force Base, the crossroads for Abilene, Lubbock, San Angelo and Midland.
Then, the Base closure was announced. EVERYBODY knew Big Spring was finished. That is, everybody except the City Council. They got to work. Looking at the Base, talking with the State and what was needed. There were plans being put together for a new prison expansion. The Base had the security, fencing, barracks, offices, warehousing, kitchens, laundry. Not much was different between the Base and a prison.
The city continues.
By contrast, I live in Cotton County, the poorest County in the State. Early 1900s, oil was being drilled and produced anywhere they punch a hole. The County seat, Walters, seen a refinery built. Life was good, booming. Great Depression, war, not much effect, oil and gas were needed. The war ended and then, the refinery dismantled. Growth stagnated, my Dad graduated in '53 in a class of 60. In Class of '75, there were 61. My granddaughter graduated in '16, her Class was 56. The City leaders FIGHT growth at every turn.
Around 1970, 10 miles down the road, Temple wooed Haggar to open a plant. Seemed like half the women in the County worked there. The town grew and prospered. Hagar closed. Temple is a ghost town.
Haliburton and Duncan are a strange situation. You would think Duncan would be dead. Driving through town, bumper to bumper traffic, new small business going in, ne homes being built; it is befuddling.
We moved to Ardmore about the same time and lived there until '84. Had several friends that worked at the plant. I was working oilfield down there.I lived in Ardmore in '77, '78 and '79. You were in tall cotton if you snagged any job at Goodyear.
The unions are why we have a rust belt in this country and steel manufacturing moved overseas.
They couldn’t accept modernization of the steel industry that would of course cut some jobs. They chose to lose every job as a consequence.
Unions do not have the interest of the workers as a priority for long term employment. Or they are just stupid fudds.
They don’t realize that allowing robots to do some work requires more technical people to be hired to maintain, program and operate the fleet of robots, sometimes resulting in a higher salaried workforce that would be able to be screwed out of more union dues than a person with an air powered screwdriver on an assembly line to install a screw in a door handle, wherapon their job is done until the next door comes down the line for another handle to be installed.
Yes, I’ve worked for the Teamsters Union and the IBEW. I didn’t like them funneling my dues to the Democratic Party either.
I spent 23 years working for the now defunct solo cup here in Ada.
Pay sucked but for the most part it was steady and 8 hours of OT a week mandatory for maintenance which I was a part of.
Sucked in the summer since it was full on production 6 days a week, I worked swing shift, so my social life ended for the most part, but winter was repair work every saturday, in the morning for 8 hours.
Eventually they were taken over when some investors were not paid back and the cuts came. Where home depot in ada sits was once owned by solo cup, 15 acres, that one of the first things the investors sold was that piece of land.
Solo was bought out by Dart, the pants still there but there have been several layoffs, production has been cut in half or at least more. The printing department is no longer at that plant.
A lot of solo plants have been closed and I keep waiting for the final blow to come to the plant in ada. I hope it stays open for the sake of those who still hang on out there.
I have been gone for 17 years, cant say I mis it much tho.
lgb got involved. ??
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