Clinging to the dream in Linwood

 

When I walked into the United Steelworkers Union hall in Linwood last night, the first people I met were a young couple and their rambunctious son.

They greeted me warmly. They seemed to know who I was, and why I was there.

And that’s when it struck me what was at stake in the lower end of the county, which is still reeling under the announcements by Sunoco and ConocoPhillips that they are getting out of the refining business. Both companies have indicated that if they cannot find buyers for their plants in Marcus Hook and Trainer, they will close the doors.

The ConocoPhillips plant in Trainer has already shut down production.

We took our ‘Live From the Newsroom’ show to the union hall last night to talk to the people at the eye of this storm.

You can see the video replay here.

Dennis Stephano, president of United Steelworkers Local 10-234, which represents workers at the Conoco plant, and Jim Savage, president of USW Local 10-1, which represents Sunoco workers, sat down with us to detail what it at stake and the effort being made to find buyers for the plants.

Both talked about recent meetings in with elected officials in Harrisburg and Washington, D.C., and their belief that all involved realize the critical nature of the issue and the push to find buyers for the two facilities.

We’ll get another reminder on Saturday, when the unions are planning a huge rally in Marcus Hook.

You can read about it here.

This is the biggest economic issue in Delaware County. Should a buyer not be found, and those two plants shut their doors, it will not only directly affect the 2,000 jobs at the faciltiies, but as many as 20,000 ancillary jobs across the region.

That’s a lot of jobs. And an economic nightmare.

Hopefully that won’t happen. Hopefully that young couple will be able to continue their little piece of the American dream that is playing out in households all across the “lower end” of Delaware County.

Hopefully.