Set for Life - The Rise and Fall of a West Virginia Steel Town - www.Over50andOutofWork.com

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We are now traveling to film for our feature length documentary. In preparation, we used some footage from our trip last May to create this 10-minute video about Weirton, W.V., featuring our interviewees from the mill. Though not intended as part of the final film, it provides an introduction to what's happening to manufacturing jobs in the United States, specifically in Weirton.
We hope you enjoy it and look forward to hearing your feedback on the Comments page.
* * *
Boomers, who are beginning to turn 65 this year, were born into a postwar era of prosperity and optimism. The Great Recession upset the expectations held by many members of this iconic generation. Today's unemployed boomers anticipate living longer than prior generations, but are not well prepared to do so. As their needs are escalating, government at all levels is cutting back on programs and services to reduce budget deficits, while globalization races ahead. The plight of those who are Over 50 and Out of Work is shaping the lives of their children and grandchildren, as well as the promise of the American dream. Are we entering an era of diminishing expectations for future U.S. generations?
The team behind Over 50 and Out of Work is beginning production this month on a documentary film exploring the themes and conflicts illuminated in the 100 Stories. Focusing specifically on three interviewees, the film will present the story of being Over 50 and Out of Work in a more dramatic framework and make it available to a wider audience. Please stay tuned for more updates and videos as we get underway!
Over 50 and Out of Work

Опубликовано:

12 сен 2011

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Комментарии : 82

@willbygosh4887 6 месяцев назад

Better days are ahead!

@isnamthere4690 Год назад

My dad worked in Weirton Steel for 28 years until his death in 1980. The mill paid for my upbringing and my underage existence. I always be thankful for that. I never noticed that the area smelled bad until I left home for college. When I came back home for my first visit, I wondered what smelled so bad. My mom told me, that's home. You're just not used to it anymore.

@robertcarr5190 5 лет назад

Left in the ' 79 layoff....best move I've ever made.

@blackopslover12345 10 лет назад

How very sad. My Great Grandfather (Ernest Weir) started Weirton steel. This is not what he had in mind. My late Grandfather (one of his sons) use to say to me "The old man is rolling over in his grave" Henry Weir Davis

@pitbul187 8 лет назад

Wow! There is a great video on here "WSX Weirton" I believe it's called, that has your great-grandfather in it...it's a great video. Quite the legacy; and you're right... I'm also certain that the state of affairs today would have all the 'old-timers' spinning in their grave. Weirton was a wonderful place to grow up in, I cherish the memories. Very sad what has happened to such a thriving town.

@ThatGuyNamedR0b 4 года назад

I helped my Dad Do some maintenance work in your Great Grandfather's old Mansion here in Weirton. It was turned in to Apartments and I helped my dad as a teen

@rhondakundrat7577 2 года назад

Karl Kundrat

@chrishatley8015 9 лет назад

I'm proud to be a "Steel-workers" daughter! That mill provided many people good lives for many years. The men and women worked very hard and some paid dearly with their lives, and I will forever be indebted, greatful and forever respect the "Blue Collar" man, especially the man I call Dad. He was a welder there for 31 years. Thank you Dad for all you did through the years...

@diverbob8 5 лет назад

As a young man interested in cars, I formed a friendship with Bob Baron who owned the Chevrolet dealership. Sitting in his office, tallking about car deals, he was opening his mail. After opening a particularly large envelope, he showed me a certificate from Chevrolet naming him the largest dealer in the country for the past month. I was astounded as he gave it a toss....he said "no big deal, that is a whole pile of them"! In those days, Hancock and Brooke Counties were in the top 1% of per capita income in the nation. A common joke was "The ashtrays are full, time to get a new car"!

@kd4baoc612 6 лет назад

It's hard for 80 year old steel factory to compete with newer production methods. I had to leave the Pittsburgh area back when the steel industry of the Mon-Valley area crashed in the early to mid 1980's. I tried to make a living for several years. The jobs and wages weren't cutting it. So, I moved on to other places were the economy was starting to crank up at that time. Hated to leave family and friends from the area, but sometimes you have to think of the future while your still young. Good luck gentleman, my father was a steel worker for 38 years. He was able to retire in 1989, but his health paid the price. Working in a steel mill is a hard life.

@madelinescafe8573 9 лет назад

I like what the Mayor said...we have to face the facts, steel is not coming back, it's an industrial age industry. I moved away from Weirton (actually Colliers) back in 86' and never looked back. Let me tell you, there is a booming, productive world out there - but you have to go outside the bounds of Weirton to see it. I know it has a lot of memories, family and friends, but if you want to revive it, you have to bring in a modern industry and let go of steel.

@jamallabarge2665 7 лет назад

Robert is right. My family was in the steel business for many years. We went to other careers.

@marinointhehall13 6 лет назад

I left in 90 and it has been great.

@CJinsoo Год назад

Good video. Tough times, tough people. Employee owned was a great idea, but also underscored that the main issue was inefficient technology and over-compensated labor. If you make the mill more efficient, you only need a fraction of the labor, and the ESOP phased 100% confirmed this. agree that dumping was a problem, but the underlying issue was an industry that was highly inefficient over time. The companies and unions actually worked together to avoid strikes, but it caught up with the generations from the 70s on. Same with Youngstown and other mills. The honest/objective steel workers would tell you in the late 60s that there was no way those old mills could keep running profitably.

@owencrowey7180 5 лет назад

I grew up here in weirton and i can guarantee that if things were the way they used to be i would be looking there for a job

@c.ryanm.8188 4 года назад

Welcome to Weirton the city of gambling cafe....formerly known as strong steel city. Probably a future ghost town....especially if Decarlos, Giovanni's go out of business...unless they already have. Havent step foot on Weirton soil in nearly 8 years and I have no reason to go back...but it used to be a great city and its sad to see what it has become

@isnamthere4690 Год назад

DiCarlos is always a good reason to go back.

@ThatGuyNamedR0b 4 года назад

My Grandfather sal Oliver was the Yard Master and was a conductor on the Railroad, My Uncle Jim worked as a welder, and My Dad Henry or Bob as he went by worked in the old Coke plant

@richarddagostino1379 Год назад

Hi, my dad worked there too. It paid well and we enjoyed living in the city.

@user-ju1zr5zo1g 3 месяца назад

I left Steubenville 1968 are a f discharge The mill did not hire me because I had no relatives working there. I got employment at American Airlines.

@Dc328 10 лет назад

My Father was born and raised in Weirton, but got a job at The Miami Herald and moved down there. We spent a lot of great summers up there back In the 60's and 70's. As was mentioned on this film, I remember the smell and the fact that you couldn't see 10 feet ahead. It was horrible coming from Miami, but I loved our trips there!

@tiffanydellapenna5629 5 лет назад

My father John Dellapenna worked there for over 30 years He was a main crane operator. Bop department.

@eddakota5406 4 года назад

ISU President would make a good used car salesman

@joemurray9131 2 месяца назад

the mill is now closed cause of him

@joelaux8408 2 года назад

French fries and gravy at the diner😊

@andrewallen9993 5 лет назад

Workers with the work ethic and management with the brains of British Leyland. The jobs went to cheaper i.e. more efficient places.

@carlmyers6537 10 лет назад

I remember good and bay days in Weirton. My Dad was working for "The Plant" when I was born at the Ohio Valley General in 1936. We lived in Holidays Cove, My Dads older brother became Chief Combustion Engineer during the 60's, his name was Mansel Myers. It was true about the dirt and smell and that is why we never moved back after settling in Pittsburgh, it was bad enough there. I also remember the super summers spent having Bar-b-Que in the back yard of my Uncle's house, lunches at the Big Boy and the ride down to Wheeling to visit the family I am sorry to see many of our good people and their towns die. Maybe Weirton will find a new direction and make a come back, other towns on the Ohio have done it. Just look a Wheeling.

@JB-kx9bx 3 года назад

I work in the oil and gas industry, I do not want my kids working in it. I hope they find something less destructive to your body and personal lives.

@sugarpuddin 4 года назад

Founders of company failed to reinvest into the company at the same time US Tax laws pushed offshore investment into Japan. That flood of offshore investment capital out of the USA enabled the Japanese to build newer steel factories that could produce higher quality steel for less money. In short, government intervention - once again - is the cause of the counties downfall. JFK spoke out vehemently against the tax code sending money into offshore investment (development). The net result was the creation of the rust belt. Apparently the workers had no idea and were hoodwinked into giving what little they had in an attempt to revive a dead horse. Soon the time came to be liquidated by Wall Street Banking terrorist who paid little or no tax when they auctioned the remnants off.

@deekay2 12 лет назад

Over 50 and Out of Work (struggling) and Mr. Ugyptus is an oxymoron.

@carolyn9andthecats653 5 лет назад

You should see his house!

@Baileygeep7 9 лет назад

Granite city steel just went idle because of chinese dumping and the sellout ain't over yet, Trans-pacific partnership, the catastrophe no one can see or write about is key to the success of your skinny agitator from kenyas' determination to get all the american dupes on EBT cards.

@owencrowey7180 5 лет назад

This video even shows my house

@franklinnose 3 года назад

What about the HEALTH issues of working in such a TOXIC environment?!

@heavenlyblue 9 лет назад

The major cause of the death of the steel mills in the USA was from over regulation by our government. Pollution laws are just one example of many of the over regulation by our government. And Unions with their unwillingness to compromise to save the steel industry is another reason, The steel mills in the USA were not able to compete with much lower priced steel from other countries.

@jamallabarge2665 7 лет назад

I am not sure that Union wages were an issue. Guaranteed Benefit retirement packages can get out of hand. When you have five retirees for every worker it's damn hard for a company to make ends meet.

@cheatinjoebiden4806 4 года назад

"The major cause of the death of the steel mills in the USA was..." The man told you right in the video (that you didn't watch) the same thing we've always known happened: Globalist, communists and self-serving elitists in government permitted the _illegal dumping_ of foreign steel in this nation. Sorry, but _NO WORKER_ (unionized or NOT unionized) could compete with Chinese communist SLAVES who enjoyed zero labor rights or even fundamental human rights. It's not going to happen. It was up to the Federal government to protect us with _TRULY_ fair trade policies and enforcement of those policies. Instead, they screwed every working American directly into the dirt.

@cheatinjoebiden4806 4 года назад

@@jamallabarge2665 "Guaranteed Benefit retirement packages can get out of hand" As it was once written, "Bust a deal: face the wheel." ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ All of those workers were baited in partly on the promise of a retirement package. I'm surprised those getting ripped off for their pensions didn't joint-lawsuit the living fxxX out of Mittal, but it's much too late to wonder why that didn't happen. I'm sure they were made to sign everything away just to stay employed for a few more weeks. Sorry to say, that's a fool's bargain if it happened that way. They should've sued India-based steel magnate Lakshmi into his third fxxXing life.

@jamallabarge2665 4 года назад

@@cheatinjoebiden4806 We do not hold broken deals to account. Just look at the US "housing crisis". These gangsters were not prosecuted, they were bailed out!! I resent the Guaranteed Benefit Pensions. The workers should have been paid well enough to save their own pensions.

@cheatinjoebiden4806 4 года назад

@@jamallabarge2665 "The workers should have been paid well enough to save their own pensions." Yep. lol --> "Guaranteed". Tell that to my poor, old dad who was close to retirement when these slimy globalists did this to Weirton. The place is one, big gambling "cafe", now, siphoning off what little retirement money is left in the community.

@geerbangr 4 года назад

The ironic part of this subject is how great life was when the steelworkers were working and wouldn’t do a damn thing to help an outsider get a job in the mill and now they’re making videos crying about being out of work. I couldn’t care less if they go hungry or not because if you wasn’t a family member or a very close friend to one of those workers they wouldn’t give you the time of day. So put that in your pipe and smoke it boys and enjoy your memories of the good ole days. 😊

@morganchatsworthiii9178 3 года назад

I've been to a lot of mills, never seen anyone working hard. Can't really feel sorry for them.

@mikep4745 5 месяцев назад

I grew up in the area (in the 70's/80's) and wondered why my dad didn't just go work for the mill and make the big $$$. My mom told me outsiders could not even get an application. I'd then hear stories from adults who worked there bragging how they would lie by the pool or hold another job b/c their buddies would take turns clocking him in and out. Yea, don't feel sorry for them.

@jamallabarge2665 7 лет назад

These guys don't sound like West Virginians. They sound like people from Pittsburgh.

@cpc874 6 лет назад

Jamal Labarge Weirton is 20-25 minutes from Pittsburgh. Same stock, mostly European immigrants, Greek, Polish, Italian and about 10-15% African American. ... The southern accent doesn’t pick up until you go 20 miles downriver.

@isnamthere4690 Год назад

I was born and raised in the northern panhandle of WV and I don't have a hillbilly accent. We're not all a bunch of hicks, you know.

@robertsole9970 4 года назад

Whatever happened to these people? I grew up there but glad I got out.

@lostcause2137 7 лет назад

FACT if you are worth what you were making you will no problem finding a job with same pay and benefits. If not then you were overpaid.

@tallswede80 2 года назад

not so simple. Taxes and regulation have made business impossible in the united states. You can thank your government.

@kazfleszar5899 7 лет назад

trump will bring it back

@TheLookingOne 7 лет назад

Do you still think that Kaz?

@kazfleszar5899 7 лет назад

yes I think people are trying everything to get him to fail .give the man a chance you would want a chance wouldent you I hope the people don't rob themselves of great things ahead.they remind me of the people who was against Christ .give us barabbus.

@robertcarr5190 3 года назад

Still waiting...oh, you meant the covid virus...