Vise-grips.  They are a tool used around the world by carpenters, and those of us who think we are carpenters.  The original vise-grip was invented in Dewitt, Nebraska back in 1915.  DeWitt is a small town of about 600 people.  Half of the town works at the vise-grip plant.  The employees are proud of the tool they make.  The plant they work at is more like an extended home.  They share smiles and exchange stories of kids and grandkids. 

When you hold one of the vise-grips made at the plant in Dewitt, it is heavy, shiny and has a stamp on the handle “Made in the USA.”  You know holding it that it will last beyond your life.  It is the type of tool that gets handed down to your kids, it is that well made. 

Despite the high level production rates at the plant—meaning they turn out a high number of quality vise-grips for the number of employees they have, always meeting or exceeding their production goals— over 300 Nebraskans got notice that in 60 days instead of the vise-grips begin made in the USA, made in Nebraska, they will be made in China.

One employee said it best after she heard the news, “forget about being green, when is America going to be red, white and blue?”

Once China takes over the duty of carrying on the production of the vise-grip, the tool just won’t be the same.  There are the obvious things that won’t be the same.  For example, it simply won’t be as heavy since China doesn’t have access to the high quality of steel and it won’t have “Made in the USA” on the handle.  The employees won’t have the safe guards like the folks do in DeWitt.  Employees share stories of the plant in China and how people are crammed into small places with machinery that could snap a limp if the workers turns slightly wrong.  That is not how the plant in DeWitt is run.

Then there are the not so obvious implications of plant closing.  The vise-grip was invented in DeWitt Nebraska almost 100 year ago.  It is an icon in Nebraska and yet because of failed leadership that rewards companies shipping jobs overseas rather than keeping them in the US we have the town and residents of DeWitt that are facing serious trouble. We have a tradition, an icon that is going to fade away not unlike the wagon ruts of the pioneers who started the small towns across Nebraska.

One mom of a high school senior knows her husband could find a job at another factory outside of Nebraska.  But how do you tell a high school senior that she needs to switch schools.  The mom is consumed with trying to make sure, even with all the worry of debt and finding a new job, that her daughter’s high school senior year is as normal as it can be, so dress shopping and high school pictures are on the horizon with the question of how they can pay for it just around the corner.

The employees of the Dewitt plant are proud.  They always believed in the vise-grip and always believed their jobs were safe.  They believed what they were taught as kids—you work hard and your company will respect your work and treat you and your family well.  That means good paying jobs, safe environments, health insurance and a good retirement plan.  Folks used to have that in DeWitt, but that is not the case anymore.  Families both young and old just lost their jobs, their community and are on the brink of losing hope that they will be able to raise their family in Nebraska.

When the employees were given the 60-day notice that the plant was closing, they were also told while they would get a couple months severance, they would have to apply for unemployment in order to even qualify for a severance.  That is not how companies who care about their employees, and more importantly care about the American taxpayer, work their severance packages.  But it seems corporate America nowadays thinks they can stick the taxpayers with their bad leadership decisions.  So instead of the parent company of the DeWitt plant paying for the few months of severance completely, the taxpayer gets stuck with the bill.

In all of the news with bailouts this past year, and especially this past week, you wonder when the average American family is going to get bailed out.  Who is going to bail out the generations of our kids who we are straddling with debt? 

One Dewitt employee is thinking just that.  He got offered two more months of pay and health care if he was willing to go to China to teach the workers over there how to do his job.  He took them up on the offer, he has to.  It buys him a few more months of looking for a new job in a town that has none.  But imagine that, your job gets shipped overseas to China and you have to go train them. 

Dewitt represents everything that is right about Nebraska and everything that is wrong with the direction of our country.  Bad leadership in corporate America and bad leadership in DC is what the norm is these days.  New and better leaders are needed if America is going to live up to the promise and hope we all hold for our country and our families. 

New and better leaders start with our generation and it starts now.  Help raise money for one of the high school seniors of the DeWitt plant employees by donating a few dollars.  Their family could use the extra help with homecoming, senior pictures and everything else that goes along with the senior year of high school. 

The vise-grip may not be made in the USA any longer, but we can make sure young people from DeWitt continue to be proud that they were “Made in Nebraska.”