posted September 5, 2008
I saw on the news the other day that Volkswagen Of America decided to invest nearly a billion dollars on a new assembly plant near Chattanooga, Tn. Well, for starters I would like to tell the world what Volkswagen Of America has done to the state of Pennsylvania and thousands of dedicated employees, of which I was one of them. Volkswagen opened an assembly plant in New Stanton, Pa., in 1978. NBC News was there when the first foreign car rolled off a United States assembly line on April 10, 1978. I stood there and watched this historic event unfold.
It was a huge milestone for the USA and Pennsylvania. It was never done before and I was truly proud to have been a part of this historic moment. We produced the Rabbit, the GTI. I drove the first GTI in the United States before the public and dealerships even saw a picture of one. The Rabbit Truck, the Golf, The Jetta were all made with Pennsylvania pride and quality. We produced 1.2 million cars for Volkswagen from 1978 to 1988 when Volkswagen decided to close this plant after their Pennsylvania tax breaks had expired.
They came to the USA and basically destroyed thousands of lives in the process by not doing whatever it took 20 years ago to get a new car design that would sell, and listen more to their employees with their suggestions and concerns on manufacturing and production issues.
Volkswagen has a lot of nerve for what they did to Pennsylvania and thousands of employees by bringing another plant to the USA. I am going to get in touch with NBC, ABC and CBS news and tell the real story on what they pulled and how it could have been avoided.
I have pictures of the first car coming off the assembly line, the 500,000th vehicle, the 1,000,000th vehicle and sadly the last car to roll off the assembly line on 7-14-88. I also have a video tape of the entire assembly plant which was dedicated to me. I have the only copy in the world. This video was made for me due to an industrial accident in which I was not expected to live which took place 14 days before the plant closed its doors forever.
I want to tell the real story on how VW came to Pennsylvania 30 years ago, Pennsylvania also invested over $70 million in road and bridge expenses to help VW open this plant in which they did, but left as soon as the Pennsylvania tax breaks were expired and destroyed many, many lives in the process.
I could tell you about seven friends of mine who committed suicide because when their job left in 1988, so did their lives as a productive member on a assembly line where we gave our best and we gave it our all, all of the time which was not good enough for Volkswagen. What amazes me is that the economy was much better than it is today, but they foolishly closed a great facility. But in 2008, with the economy in shambles, they want to invest nearly a billion dollars in Tennessee.
Trust me, the people of Pennsylvania will voice their opinions just as I am going to. They say fool me once it's your fault, fool me twice it's my fault.
Blaine Stanziana
BStanziana@aol.com
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