Here’s a good one: According to Bill Gertz at the Washington Times, a Chinese company linked to China’s military will join with Massachusetts-based 3Com under a proposed merger. 3Com currently supplies hi-tech equipment to the U.S. military. Some analysts are concerned that the move will provide the Chinese military with access to sensitive U.S. technology.
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Here’s another noteworthy story from our mailbag. We hear these same kinds of stories from people across the country, whether it’s yesterday’s account from Ryan in Wisconsin, or today’s item from Pennsylvania…
From: Charles Costa, Irvine, Pennsylvania.
“I am 51 years old and born and raised in Erie, PA. In the seventies in Erie, PA you could walk out of one shop and walk in to another and be working the same day. In Erie, PA we had Bucyrus Erie, Mattel Toy Works, Weil McClain, Erie Tool Works, Erie Malleable Iron, GAF, International Paper (Hammer Mill), National Forge, and Steris Corp.
“I now have to work 2 jobs since my job moved from Erie. I was a Warehousing, Logistic, Expediting, and Production Supervisor for Blair Corp who was downsized due to lack of sales and moved back to Irvine, PA. I can not find one job that can support my family at this time. My choices are; work two jobs and hope things change or move from the area where I was born and raised. There are about 30 more manufacturing shops that have left Erie, PA and surrounding areas.
“Well off to my first job of the day.”
Charles’ story is yet one more reminder that American manufacturing would be better served by strong enforcement of the trade laws that we already have on the books.
Keep those letters coming, folks.
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Dipping into our mail bag again, here’s a very interesting account of a plant closure in Wisconsin.
From: Ryan Evans, St. Croix Falls, Wisconsin
“I moved to rural Wisconsin from the Twin Cities metro area in 2006 and took a job at Shafer Electronics. The company was small and family run, employing around 50 people, and had been in that town for nearly 40 years. It was the biggest employer in that area, and a good portion of the employees not only lived in the immediate area, but had also been with the company since they started working out of high school. Many had been there for 25 or 30 years.
“We left for the long Thanksgiving weekend in 2006 with the feeling that all was well. Upon returning on that following Monday, we were told that the company could no longer make money due to inexpensive overseas labor, and we could not compete with them. The doors would be closing for good. Many people were to be laid off immediately or within the next couple of days.
“To many, this company was family. They had spent 20 or more years working alongside the same people. The hardest aspect to deal with remained the fact that the closing of the plant had a significant impact on an already economically depressed area. In this case, the business had been a staple of the community for decades. When they closed their doors, it left nothing more than a few antique stores and bars. Otherwise there were remnants of better days; an old creamery, empty store fronts, a shuttered gas station.
“The loss of industry in this area due to low-cost overseas labor is staggering. In many cases, these businesses are the pillars of a community, having supported workers and families often times for decades.
“Most of the people I still run into from the company remain unemployed or have been forced to take low paying jobs elsewhere to support themselves or their families. I see some at the local Wal-Mart or grocery stores working jobs that pay a third of what they were making, but as they are the only jobs open in the area, it has become necessary to make such sacrifices. It’s a vicious cycle that is taking apart the rural manufacturing communities one piece at a time in a slow-bleed manner.”
We’re grateful to Ryan for sharing his story. And we’re hoping our national leaders will respond to our three questions:
1. As President, how will you save American manufacturing jobs?
2. What specific policies will you support to strengthen the American manufacturing base, which is vital to our economic and national security?
3. What steps will you take to enforce our trade laws and hold cheating countries like China accountable?
Please keep sending your accounts to ManufactureThis (scapozzola@aamfg.org).
Yesterday, ManufactureThis started to call for submissions from folks around the nation. We’re asking you to share your stories about lost manufacturing jobs, and about how your friends, family, and community are coping with unsafe products, closed factories, and unaffordable healthcare.
We’ve received a number of responses already and will include some of them in our daily content.
By the way, when you write to us, please let us know if we can include your full name and your hometown. Even send us pictures if you’d like. Email it all to scapozzola@aamfg.org.
Without further ado, here are two selections from our Mailbag. Both reference our first “Keep it Made in America” Town Hall meeting, hosted by John Ratzenberger.
From: Sandy in Pontiac, Michigan
“Please come to Michigan to do a town hall meeting. I am sure everyone would turn out - most of us have lost our manufacturing jobs - now we are at $10.00/hr jobs with no benefits. The people that have lived and worked in Michigan their whole life - now have nothing - thanks to jobs being outsourced. We must make a stand and keep manufacturing in the United States or we are going to become a third world country!”
From: Patricia Mannion in New Hampshire
“Please thank John for his work. I am an ex-manufacturing worker for 25 years. We have all been completely devastated and lost our ability to keep up with rising costs due to less viable job opportunities and I have seen many people lose their 401K retirement and jobs and ability to rebound…I am a 53 yr old woman and my father recently died and asked me “what are you folks going to do in the future with no retirement pensions.”
ManufactureThis will continue to share the stories of everyday people trying to make ends meet after their manufacturing jobs have been outsourced. Keep writing to us, and we’ll keep printing your letters. It’s important that someone has a record of the dislocation brought about by outsourcing. Maybe we can get some of our presidential contenders to give a read through our Mailbag. And maybe, just maybe, they’ll say, “Hmm, I think there’s a problem here…”
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If you want to hear a good summary of the troubles facing today’s manufacturing workers, look no further than the story told at our Town Hall meeting in Manchester last week by machinist Rich Reilly.
Rich began his working career as a factory sweeper at an auto parts machining firm. He worked his way through night school, earned an associates degree, and moved his way up to do welding, machining, and finally environmental health and safety coordination at his plant.
After years of employment, Rich’s factory closed its doors and shifted production to Mexico and Europe, laying off more than a thousand workers in Dover and Farmington, New Hampshire.
While Rich is now looking for a new job himself, he’s also helping many of his former colleagues with their job searches.
Rich offered the first question during our Q&A in Manchester, and he cut to the heart of the matter:
“By sending our jobs outside our country, we risk losing a very important aspect of who we are in America. But it goes even deeper than that because when these jobs leave our country it affects other companies that support these facilities. I’ve spent the last 7 months working with hundreds of people, writing resumes, cover letters, doing job-searches or just supporting my fellow workers as their lives were turned upside down.
“Losing our jobs due to plant closures and finding out that our jobs have been sent out of the country, is nothing short of a slap in the face to the very backbone of what this country was made on.
“I want to know, what are these presidential hopefuls doing to help us average Americans struggling to make a living right now?”
Rich’s story is being replayed throughout the country. And so, we want to hear from you. Please tell us your stories, what’s happened to you, what you think needs to be done to save U.S. manufacturing jobs.
Please post them here on our blog. Or, email me and I’ll work with you on a specific article: scapozzola@aamfg.org.
Put pen to paper and let’s get started.
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