In 1976 Citizen Action began a nationwide campaign to require advance notice of plant closings, which became federal law in 1989.

Manufacturing plants throughout Ohio and the industrial Midwest were closing and moving abroad. Workers and communities had no warning when plants closed. Without advance notice, families couldn’t plan, workers couldn’t retrain, and communities couldn’t prepare for the economic devastation.

Union workers like Nick Kostandaras (oil, chemical, and atomic workers local) sought help fighting the closing of a paint plant on Cleveland’s west side, but got no support from city council, state legislators, or the business community. So Ohio Citizen Action and unions fought for a state plant closing bill, later called a “just transition bill.” The plant closing legislation required advance notification of closures and severance for affected workers.

Ohio Citizen Action’s foundational work on this issue became a model that was eventually enacted at the federal level, protecting workers across the country by requiring employers to provide advance notice before significant plant closures or workforce reductions. Senator Howard Metzenbaum introduced the legislation in the Senate in 1988. Our sustained pressure eventually led to the passage of the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification ([WARN] Act) in 1989.