McDonnell Addresses Job Creation in Albemarle County
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Updated: 3:27 PM Dec 4, 2009
McDonnell Addresses Job Creation in Albemarle County
Virginia's Governor-elect, Bob McDonnell, was in Albemarle County Friday morning a message to local workers who are losing their jobs.
Posted: 12:41 PM Dec 4, 2009
Reporter: Cheryn Stone
Email Address: cheryn.stone@newsplex.com
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December 4, 2009

As Bob McDonnell faced the audience in Charlottesville, he said the local workers who have lost their jobs are on his mind. McDonnell continues to focus on one issue more than any other.

"Job creation. We will focus like a laser on that during the first months of the administration," said McDonnell.

The Governor-elect spoke at the Virginia Industry Leadership Forum at the Boar's Head Inn, hosted by the Virginia Manufacturers Association.

"We've had a lot of tough news in Virginia lately, particularly in the manufacturing sector with the tire plant in Scottsville and International Papers, and some others that have announced plans to either consolidate or retool or close jobs," said McDonnell.

When the Hyosung Tire Plant closes next month, more than 100 people in Scottsville will be jobless. McDonnell is ready to tackle the daunting task of putting those people back to work. He says he will be spending most or his time looking at the issue, the budget of Virginia, and what resources he can allocate to economic growth and development.

"We've laid detailed plans through the course of the campaign. I've already met with legislative leaders and asked for their cooperation to help make some of these investments, so we can create new jobs for those 100 people affected by this layoff," said McDonnell.

McDonnell says he is going to be increasing the role of the Lieutenant Governor, expecting him to take on new roles to help with job creation.

As the Hyosung plant workers countdown the days until paychecks stop coming, the struggle is all too familiar to McDonnell's audience, which is waiting to hear that help is on the way.

"I'm hopeful from the economic information we've received that we are hitting bottom, and my job is to be able to accelerate the pace of the recovery," said McDonnell.

The Hyosung workers and their family members are hoping McDonnell can hasten that recovery process.


Latest Comments

Posted by: citizen Location: charlottesville on Dec 5, 2009 at 03:41 PM

Manufacturing jobs are leaving the US, Japan, Korea, and everywhere else for mainland China by the tens of millions---so NOBODY should think that this epidemic is only hitting the US. The loss of one manufacturing job means the loss of six service jobs---and now American industry is sending those jobs overseas as well. I just returned from Latin America and it is scary to see how many TECH jobs from the US are moving there. A big step would be to slap tariffs on those countries that currently treat America that way. Unbelievably, in many many cases, foreign countries tax the daylights out of our stuff but we DO NOT reciprocate. Until the tariffs get balanced the American worker will continue to lose all the way around!
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