Dawn Simms has been out of work for a year and a half. The Stellantis auto plant where she, her father, and grandfather worked most of their adult years now sits idle, ringed with tall grass and weeds. Almost all of the members of her union, United Auto Workers (UAW) Local 1268, have been laid off, too, and the effects have rippled through the northern Illinois town of Belvidere, where restaurants have closed and business at others has slowed, as the need at food pantries has increased.

It’s a familiar Rust Belt story, with a twist. Sitting in the union hall, a five-minute drive from the shuttered plant, Simms does not talk like someone resigned to the loss of her livelihood or her hometown’s vibrancy. ​“We’re here and we’re willing to work,” she says. ​“We want to work. Why can’t you keep your promise and bring your product?”

She’s referring to a historic promise extracted by the UAW in its fall 2023 strike against Stellantis, Ford, and General Motors. Stellantis contractually agreed to reopen the Belvidere plant, which had been idled earlier that year after fifty-eight years in operation, and to pursue new manufacturing in the town.