Newport, Del. - For 25 years John Lewis has welded, painted and assembled cars at the vast General Motors plant in this town outside Wilmington. This month he's doing none of that. The factory is idle until Dec. 1 because of weak demand for its sporty Pontiac and Saturn roadsters, and its future seems iffy at best.
Now he's counting on Congress to approve a $25 billion rescue package for the Big Three automakers - help that once-mighty GM says it needs to ensure survival, help that Lewis says is vital to saving his job and millions of others tied to the nation's auto industry.
"I want them to give 'em 25 billion [dollars], give 'em a hundred billion, whatever," Lewis said after polishing off a hot dog from a snack shack across from the nearly empty factory. He wants to get back to work and says GM can't be allowed to fail.
"If it goes to bankruptcy, you're talking 3 or 4 million jobs. People think it's just autoworkers. It's a trickle-down effect. It goes all the way down. It's going to hurt everybody, man."
These are days of high anxiety for the 240,000 workers at GM, Ford and Chrysler and the carmakers' many pension-drawing retirees, as well as employees of a big web of suppliers.
As Congress debates the pros and cons of a possible bailout and some observers suggest that bankruptcy reorganization might benefit automakers over the long term, workers from the Delaware plant look on with a mix of fear, frustration and uncertainty - but also some hope.
"I put my heart into this plant," said David Webb, 47, a plant veteran of 24 years who checks the fit of vehicles on the assembly line. "I hope the corporation survives. I think we're going to come through it. I'm not scared."
A moment later, though, he did admit he's worried about what would happen if the rescue plan went down.
To Webb, more than his livelihood is at stake. The United States, he says, must get back to its roots as a producer: "This is becoming a hollow country. We've already lost our steel work. How many farms do you see in this area? What are we hanging our hat on in this country? Banking? That's going to pull us through?"
Not surprisingly, with the factory's 1,200 jobs potentially on the line, workers support a rescue package. But they prefer one with strict rules. Webb favors a loan as opposed to a handout. Others said no money should go to overseas operations and none to corporate executives.
