In the past, when Electrolux and even its predecessor owner, Gibson, threatened to move the plant to Mississippi in the 1960s or to Mexico more recently, many local residents tended to blame greedy workers, even though the union has accepted wage freezes and other concessions in recent years. But now, Pellow said, "they see it's the greed of the company.

"We probably need world trade," he added, "but we need fair trade -- so Mexico can't skirt environmental laws, so they have a fair and livable wage."

It's not just their own fates at stake, either. If there are no jobs or only Wal-Mart jobs, says union president Carl Hoag, "there won't be any money to run the government .... How you gonna fix the state deficit if people aren't working?" And the impact will ripple further into the community. A local doctor, for example, will soon be forced to move by his health-plan employer. In all, local estimates say, the Electrolux shutdown will cost the economy here 8,000 jobs.

But the reaction of 74-year-old Mayor Walker to his failed effort to save the plant is a little more surprising. "It's a tough time for me," he said, reflecting on his experience in the cozy parlor of his home. "I've been a lifelong Republican. I have never voted for a Democratic president or a Democratic governor, but I think I'm going to change this year. I think NAFTA -- and I supported that -- is just killing the industrial strength of this country. Michigan is being hit especially hard."

He wants an international minimum wage, enforcement of stronger environmental laws, and protection of worker health and safety, or else imposition of a tariff that can be used to retrain workers, though he hastens to add, "for what, I don't know."

Walker was particularly affronted by President Bush's trip to Mexico, promoting expansion of NAFTA-like trade agreements throughout Latin America, at the time he and union workers -- whom he came to respect and whose wages he thinks are perfectly reasonable -- were trying to save Electrolux for Greenville. "That was rubbing salt in the wounds," he said. "I don't see how our middle class can compete."

But if Republicans in Greenville are willing to consider voting for Democrats out of frustration with the rules governing global trade and investment, Democrats are frustrated with some of their own. "You know who I blame?" asked Dave Kohn, another former UAW local president. "I blame the people we elect to government. They don't do a very good job of taking care of us. And it's not just Republicans."

One result of this anger is a boomlet of support for a candidate written off in the press and winning minuscule numbers of votes in the first primaries -- U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio, who favors canceling the NAFTA and WTO agreements, single-payer national health insurance, strong governmental support for workers joining unions, and much more that resonates deeply among the Electrolux workers. On the union hall marquee, below a black POW/MIA flag flying from a pole, was the announcement of Kucinich's appearance late Friday afternoon.

"I'm going to vote for Kucinich," Pellow said. "He says everything I believe in. Everyone says he's not electable. But is that a reason not to vote for him? At least I'm not voting for someone I disagree with."

Bissell countered: "If we vote for Kucinich, it's like throwing away our votes. We've got to have a candidate against Bush. Kerry seems the man."

"I'm saying, let's vote for somebody who talks like us," Pellow rejoined.

"Kucinich is the only one I'm even considering anymore," Hoag said. "He's certain to do something about NAFTA."

Most of the UAW officials and members at the local hall probably would not have joined Kucinich's opposition to the war in Iraq early last year, when he organized congressional opposition to giving Bush authority to invade Iraq. But even those who were persuaded by Bush's argument that weapons of mass destruction posed a threat are now convinced that Iraq is turning into a sinkhole of money and soldiers' blood on behalf of a cause advanced by presidential lies. "When it came to the war and I thought there were weapons of mass destruction that could turn against us in 45 minutes, I was behind Bush," Pellow said. "Now I find there weren't any WMD. Now I think: Was that the right thing to do?"

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