Reported by: Tom McKee
Photographed by: Larry Shields, Dave Marlo
Web produced by: Neil Relyea
Keith and Sherry Barrett have a combined 43-years of service with DHL and ABX AIr in Clinton County.
Now, the prospect of losing those jobs has them frightened.
"Sometimes you feel real angry," the New Vienna man said. "Other times you get real sad."
"It hurts," said his wife Sherry. "We thought there was going to be a lot of good coming out of DHL coming here."
Things did look rosy three years ago when DHL bought Airborne Express and moved its U.S. package operations to Wilmington Air Park.
That joy has turned to potential sadness with DHL's announcement that to cut costs it will contract with UPS to carry and sort its freight.
If that deal goes through, 8,000 jobs in Wilmington will disappear.
That's 6,000 jobs at ABX Air, 1,000 jobs at DHL and another 1,000 jobs with A-Star.
The financial impact to Southwestern Ohio would be over $150 million.
Clinton County would feel the brunt of $80 million of that.
The effect on Highland County would be $54 million plus $12 million in Fayette County and more than $5 million each in Adams and Brown County, according to figures provided by Ohio U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown (D).
"This rises to the level of economic emergency," said Ohio's Third District U.S. Congressman Mike Turner (R).
A number of efforts.are underway to try to reverse, delay or lessen the blow to the community.
They include reviewing anti-trust legislation, a petition drive, efforts to retain the current jobs and attempts to find new tenants if DHL leaves.
How successful any of those will be is anyone's guess.
The Barretts were among about 100 people who attended a town hall meeting on the issue Monday at the Kelly Center on the Wilmington College campus.
It was sponsored by Senator Sherrod Brown, who has begun a web site for community members to submit stories about the situation.
They listened to speaker after speaker tell how devastating the shifting of DHL business would be to Clinton, Adams, Brown, Fayette and Highland counties.
They already know what it could do to their household income because they've looked for other jobs in the region.
"The closest thing we've been able to find, with decent pay, is a half-hour away," Sherry Barrett said. "They're $8.00 or $9.00 an hour jobs, when we make $17.00 on the hour."
"It's going to devastate us," she added, noting that rising gasoline prices make the situation worse.
Wilmington Mayor David Raizk said the city's first priority right now is to try and keep the jobs because one out of every three households in the city has a connection to ABX Air or DHL.
"Retention is still our number one goal," he said. "I would be remiss if I didn't say that over and over – and over again."
The sentiment was the same for dozens of DHL and ABX Air workers who delivered petitions with 10,000 signatures to DHL offices Monday.
"We don't believe your song and dance. Keep the jobs and give us a chance," they chanted as they approached the building.
Spokesperson Mark Dimondstein said a new group called "Save The Jobs" has been formed to fight DHL.
"We're not going to let this multi-national corporation do this to our families and to our community," he said.
Dimondstein admitted their chances of actually stopping the agreement are slim, but they'll continue to fight.
Congressman Turner agreed, adding, "There are some opportunities yet for DHL to reverse its decision, but not many."
He said the Ohio Congressional delegation has joined the Ohio Attorney General in seeking a federal review of the transaction for possible anti-trust violations.
"We've also asked the federal government to be engaged to assist this facility and its employees if DHL should leave," Turner added after a lengthy meeting with ABX Air and DHL workers.
Joe Hete, president and CEO of Air Transport Services Group, said there's no question it's a huge financial crisis.
"We're just turning over every rock to see if there's an opportunity to either stop this from a legal perspective – or slow it down," Hete said, adding he still doesn't know why DHL made the decision it did.
"All we've heard to date is the cost of running their own dedicated network is too high," Hete said. "It's a little frustrating to us because the same people that were doing it for Airborne, that maked to make a profit, are doing that same work today and yet the losses continue to mount."
ABX Air President John Graber admitted that morale among employees is low, yet they're still turning in remarkable performances.
In the past month the on-time delivery rate has reached or come near 100% every day.
"I think the most important thing our employees can do is what they're doing," Graber said. "We can do everything that UPS can do, and do it for very close to the cost, with a much higher value."
He also is trying to make sure that everybody understands how big a deal the situation is for Clinton County, the City of Wilmington and the region.
For example, Graber said he recently read to a group of second-graders at their elementary school.
When he told them he worked for ABX Air, the childrens' hands went up in the air and they asked him if he knew their mother, father, brother, sister, aunt or uncle.
For Hete, that story shows the strong connection between the community, DHL and ABX Air.
"The economic impact is going to be widespread, but most of it will be concentrated here," he said.
Turner said dealing with the situation comes down to a three-pronged approach.
"What can we do to stop the transaction with DHL? What can we do to support the people here if there is a transaction? How do we bring jobs back here and make this a viable site again?," Turner summarized.
