Democrat Barack Obama said Friday that the potential loss of thousands of jobs in Ohio underscores the urgency of dealing with the nation's economic troubles.
Obama, in town to discuss energy policy, said he met privately with local officials about plans by express shipper DHL to move work away from its air cargo hub in Wilmington.
DHL has said it wants to hire United Parcel Service to replace ABX Air and ASTAR Air Cargo in transporting DHL packages. That would mean much of the work normally handled at Wilmington Air Park would be transferred to UPS facilities, threatening at least 6,000 jobs.
"It gives you some sense of emergency that we feel when it comes to our economy," said Obama, who met with Wilmington Mayor David Raizk.
Obama said he met with Gov. Ted Strickland a few weeks ago after Strickland learned of DHL's plans. They also discussed plans by Continental Airlines to cut flights out of Cleveland Hopkins International Airport and plans by General Motors Corp. to close an SUV plant in suburban Moraine by 2010 at a cost of 2,400 jobs.
"In total, he had seen 12,000 jobs potentially vanish from this great state in the span of a week," Obama said. "So it gives you some sense of why we are gathered here today because we've got a lot of work to do."
Raizk said Obama was on top of the DHL situation.
"I can tell you that he wants to approach it as if he's going to be the president in November and that this would be high on his agenda to get us the kind of help that we're going to need to redevelop and retrain and retain these jobs," Raizk said.
Their meeting also included Martin Godly, managing director of operations and finance for ASTAR; David Ross, president of Teamsters Local 1224, and a representative from the office of U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown.
Republican presidential candidate John McCain expressed his concerns over Ohio job losses at a townhall meeting in Portsmouth in southern Ohio on Wednesday.
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