Nearly 1,400 Workers Lose Jobs at Ohio Truck Factory Days Before Trump Rally

Nearly 1,400 workers lost their jobs this week at a truck factory in southwestern Ohio. The factory, once known as the Navistar plant, shut down just three days before President Donald Trump held a political rally at a nearby high school. For many workers, the timing felt painful. The layoffs wiped out almost an entire year's worth of new jobs in the Dayton, Ohio area.

Kyle Bos, 30, was one of the workers who got laid off. He has two daughters and a third child due in January. He said everyday costs have gone way up — at the grocery store, just five items can cost as much as a full cart used to. Bos is a member of the United Auto Workers union and describes himself as someone in the middle politically. Despite having voted for Trump three times, he says he is done supporting the president and plans to campaign for Democrats in the weeks before the November election.

Dayton has a long history with factory work. The city once had around 90,000 factory jobs, but it has lost about half of them since 1990. That happened partly because trade deals like the North American Free Trade Agreement made it cheaper to buy car parts from other countries. When those jobs left, many families struggled. Drug addiction and crime went up in the 1990s, and things got even harder after the 2008 financial crisis.

Trump's supporters say his policies have helped the economy. The White House pointed to big investments in Ohio from companies like Honda, Stellantis, and an aircraft maker called Electra as proof that jobs are coming back. Trump himself said at a rally, 'All over the country, they're building factories, plants, manufacturing's coming back.' He has also promised to give Americans $5,000 checks if Republicans win control of Congress next month. But Bos said that promise felt wrong to him, calling it 'a bribe, a slap in the face.'

Not everyone is hopeless about the future of the Dayton area. The Wright-Patterson Air Force Base has added many government jobs in recent years, and new aerospace companies have also moved to the area. Jeff Hoagland, the head of the Dayton Development Coalition, said it takes time for the economy to improve. But for workers who just lost their jobs, waiting is hard.

One law Trump pushed through removed taxes on tips and overtime pay. But many factory workers said that did not help them much. Marianne Donnelly, who drove a forklift at the factory, said there was barely any overtime to speak of. Donnelly and other laid-off workers do have some hope — a Canadian company called Roshel is buying the plant and plans to rehire workers and eventually more than double the workforce.

Two workers, Morgan Hughes and JoJo Burkhard, were knocking on doors in a Dayton suburb the Monday before the layoffs. They were trying to get union members and retirees to vote for Democrats. Hughes said her factory job had helped her buy a house when she was just 21 years old. Burkhard said high prices have made it easier to convince people to consider changing their vote. After a morning of talking to voters, they stopped for lunch and Burkhard cracked open a fortune cookie that read: 'You'll find your inner strength to overcome challenges' — just as the weight of losing three jobs in her family hit her all at once.