As Verna Wilson and Robert Cuthrell stood side-by-side at a rally in Pontiac, Michigan, they shared the same concern: Would their pensions be safe?
Robert Cuthrell worked at the GMC Orion plant for 32 years. He started on the assembly line and retired in 1993.Verna Wilson’s husband worked at the same plant as Cuthrell. Now a widow, Wilson relies on the pension her husband earned at the Orion plant, and she can’t afford to lose it.
“I worry about it–that I won’t be able to support myself,” says Wilson. “I don’t know where I’d go or what I’d do [if I lost it.]”
Wilson is also supporting her 24-year-old grandson who recently lost his job at a furniture store, another victim of Michigan’s sagging economy. And there are many others. Both of her next door neighbors are unemployed, and one just had his car repossessed.
As he stood at the rally, Cuthrell summed it up the problem this way: “People can’t get loans, can’t buy cars, can’t make house payments.”
