'I'm 57. How employable am I going to be?' Nearly 1,400 autoworkers are about to lose their jobs at Illinois plant
BELVIDERE, Ill. - When the final whistle blows this weekend for workers on the third shift at the Belvidere Assembly Plant near Rockford, the nearly 1,400 members of "C Crew" will punch out for the last time, downsized out of a job because of slowing demand for the plant's only product - the Jeep Cherokee.
It is a straightforward business decision for Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, which is scaling back to a traditional two-shift schedule at the plant amid softening sales and a glut of competitors.
But for residents of Belvidere, a small river city situated amid sprawling cornfields about 75 miles northwest of Chicago, Monday will be anything but business as usual.
"I'm scared," said Mike Dovey, 57, of Poplar Grove, whose two years at the plant end Saturday. "There's a lot of uncertainty. You don't have a job, you've still got to pay all your bills."
Dovey was among the 1,371 least-tenured union workers at the plant who received notice from Fiat Chrysler in February that the third crew - and their jobs - would be eliminated in May. In addition, hundreds of employees at nearby
