Dukakis Wants 90 Days’ Public Notice of Plant Closings

Massachusetts Gov. Michael S. Dukakis on Saturday called for a national law requiring businesses to give at least 90 days’ public notice before shutting any factory.

Campaigning for the Democratic presidential nomination in a high-unemployment state, Dukakis said he wants to protect “workers who have done their jobs and believed in the American dream--only to find the dream has become a nightmare.”

Dukakis is stressing job protection to encourage a large turnout of blue-collar workers for him at the Michigan Democratic caucuses here next Saturday. The state’s jobless rate last month was 8.4%, compared to 5.7% nationally and 3.4% in Massachusetts.

“Every year, more than 3 million American workers lose their jobs through plant shutdowns,” he told students here at the University of Western Michigan. “In at least half those cases, those plants shut down with little or no notice to those most affected--their own employees.”

Dukakis is seeking to try on a national scale the Massachusetts program in which companies are required to give a 90-day notice of plant closings, and state and local governments begin immediate efforts to save the businesses. Government agencies offer technical advice, consultation and, in some cases, financial aid.

If the business cannot be kept open, emergency centers are established at the plant site.

“Under our law,” Dukakis said, “workers get notice, emergency assistance, including extended health insurance for their families, and an opportunity for immediate retraining to help them find a new job at good wages.”

Dukakis attacked the Reagan Administration for its threat to veto plant-closing legislation being considered by Congress. “What else can we expect from an Administration that has lost touch with the people?” he said.

Dukakis recalled his conversation with Judith Donnelly, whose husband worked at an auto supply plant in Jackson, Mich., which was closed suddenly three weeks ago. “All the guys did was give and give and give and they still slammed the door on them,” she said. “My husband is only 51 years old . . . and we have 10 kids at home.”

Along with the jobs issue, Dukakis preached a traditional liberal Democratic message on Saturday. An activist government will bring improvements in education, universal health insurance and the creation of high-paying jobs, he told audiences here and in Warren and Lansing.

“My friends, I’m a full-employment Democrat and I mean it,” he told a rally of carpenters’ union members and senior citizens in Warren.