· July 25, 2011

Toledo Air Cargo hub to close, eliminate 700 jobs

Toledo air cargo carrier DB Schenker announced on Friday that it is closing its Ohio air cargo hub, a move that will result in the loss of over 700 jobs. The company blamed the move on the poor economy, prompting flashbacks to a similar announcement by air cargo carrier DHL in late 2008 to cease its Ohio operations. The DHL move did not go unnoticed by Governor Kasich when he was a candidate for office. In his first campaign commercial, shot at the shuttered air cargo facility, Kasich sympathized with displaced workers, speaking of the job loss this way: “It’s not a statistic, it’s people.” In the commercial, speaking of improving Ohio’s economy, Kasich went on to promise that “Together, if we push and pull, we can get it done.” According to the Toledo Blade, the Mayor and Port Authority led a “vigorous lobbying effort” to convince the company to stay. As Kasich visits Toledo this afternoon to talk about privatization of the Ohio Turnpike, we wonder what type of “pushing” and “pulling” his administration engaged in to get DB Schenker to stay, and why it was unsuccessful. After all, those 700 displaced workers are not a statistic, they’re people.