[imc-st.louis] question from canadian writer

[Tom Jokinen]

Hello, I'm hoping someone at the other end of this email can help me.  
My name is Tom Jokinen, and I'm a freelance writer in Winnipeg  
Canada, working on a book about corporate ownership in the modern  
funeral industry. I hear that York Caskets, one of the major product  
manufacturers in this very bizarre and secretive business, is about  
to close its plant in Marshfield Missouri and move its labour costs  
to Mexico. That of course is a trend in a lot of North American  
manufacturing but it seems to be a particularly hot trend in caskets.  
Even Batesville, which is considered the Ford Motor Company of  
caskets, has plants now in Mexico and is looking at India too.  
Meanwhile, there's a growing influx of product from China! Even the  
funeral trade is a Petri dish of global trade issues. Anyway, I am  
hoping to travel down to Marshfield and talk to some of the folks  
most affected but my problem is I have no contacts, and I don't want  
to get into a game of cold-calling with working folks who may be  
nervous about talking to the media, especially from another country.  
I'm hoping someone at IMC might know someone in Marshfield, or know  
someone who knows someone, etc. My book is a modest project right now  
but I do have a contract with Random House. If someone can help with  
a bit of on-the-ground research, with finding some casket plant  
workers to talk to (about 150 are about to lose their jobs in a  
community that can ill afford that much unemployment) I should be  
able to pay a small honourarium, but not much. Because I have other  
interviews booked in Springfield on other topics for late February,  
I'd like to visit Marshfield on March 1, 2 and 3. It' s soon I  
realize, but such are my deadlines. Can anyone there help?

Thanks in advance,
Tom Jokinen
204-801-8358