The Mylan pharmaceutical plant in Morgantown, West Virginia, has been in operation since 1965, producing low-cost generic drugs and providing good-paying jobs for generations of workers. On July 31, the plant (now owned by Viatris, Inc.) closed, upending the lives of over 1,400 workers, the economy of Morgantown, and the future of generic drug manufacturing in the US. In this Working People mini-cast, we talk to Carla Shultz, who has worked at the plant for 13 years, and legendary journalist Laura Flanders, who recently reported on the plant closure on The Laura Flanders Show, about the last-ditch efforts to keep the plant open and what it will mean for working people in Morgantown and beyond if those efforts are unsuccessful.
Additional links/info below…
- Join our Working People listener hang session on Monday, August 16, from 8-9:30 pm ET. Here’s the zoom link
- Laura’s Twitter page
- The Laura Flanders Show website, Twitter page, YouTube channel, and Patreon
- Laura Flanders, The Laura Flanders Show, “Big Pharma vs The People: The Fight To Save America’s Largest Generic Drug Manufacturer“
- Fraiser Kansteiner, Fierce Pharma, “Feds Throw Lifeline to Shuttered Viatris Plant in West Virginia, But Its Fate Remains Uncertain“
- Democracy Now!, “Workers Beg Joe Manchin to Save West Virginia Pharma Plant as His Daughter Walks Away with $31M“
- Douglas Soule, Mountain State Spotlight, “With the Mylan Plant Closing, Morgantown Wonders What’s Next“
Featured Music (all songs sourced from the Free Music Archive: freemusicarchive.org)
- Jules Taylor, “Working People Theme Song”
This post was originally published on The Real News Network.
