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Ohio restaurants in limbo; autoworker union pushes back on Monday reopening

Ohio's restaurants won't be allowed to reopen to dine-in customers yet. Gov. Mike DeWine says manufacturing plants can reopen Monday, but not everyone agrees.

TOLEDO, Ohio — While automakers can start production back up as soon as next Monday, one Toledo union is saying "not so fast."

Meanwhile, restaurants are still searching for a glimmer of hope as the industry continues to struggle.

You're hard-pressed to find a full parking lot these days at Schmucker's, a far cry from a typical day at the mainstay Toledo diner.

"I'm down 60%," the diner's owner, Doug Schmucker, told WTOL 11. "I can lament that or I can be happy we have 40%. I want to be happy."

A glass-half-full approach for Schmucker after a massive drop in business since the COVID-19 pandemic forced Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine to shut down restaurants and bars to dine-in customers.

With hope on the horizon, Monday became the day that wasn't. Restaurants still must remain shuttered to in-store customers indefinitely.

RELATED: 'I think we've found the sweet spot' | DeWine outlines Ohio's economic reopening plan amid coronavirus

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But for Schmucker, he understands. Customer and employee health and safety come first, end of the story, he said.

"I understand them needing to get back to work, and yet, put a value on human life," Schmucker said.

It's a similar philosophy at Tony Packo's. A spokesperson told WTOL 11 the restaurant will open its locations as soon as it gets the all-clear.

Interestingly, however, the governor's reopening plan is a flipped script when it comes to Toledo's Jeep Assembly Complex. Employees are cleared to go back to work Monday but some want leaders to pump the brakes.

"We told (Fiat Chrysler) that it's not going to be a date on the calendar that triggers when we start to plan," UAW Local 12 president Bruce Baumhower said. "It's going to be when the conditions are safe for our members, and it's not May 4."

Credit: WTOL

Baumhower said there are two sides to the coin. Some union members are eager to get back to work and others see it as too large a health risk.

"The biggest problem we have is 6,000 people are going to be shoehorned back into that complex. Three-thousand a shift," he said. "That's insane. Think about that, especially with the air that they're breathing. It's recirculated from one side of the plant to the other side."

The war on an invisible enemy continues as Ohioans try once again to defend and reclaim their battlegrounds.

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