All posts in the topic Losing jobs (Short link)
Summary
- There are 4 posts — by 4 authors — in this topic.
- Latest post made by Glen Schumann at Aug 25 22:45 UTC
Another article in today's Daily News states that TRW is "probably" going
to lay off more workers as the jobs get passed to Mexico.
What is the answer? I honestly don't know.
When companys can make a product for much less in a foreign country is it
morally right to do so?
I am chosing TRW as an example; there are many more plants over the US that
have done the same thing.
The people that once worked at TRW will find it very hard to find another
job in Winona with the same pay and benefits.
Will they move to LaCrosse or Rochester? I think the chances are very
good they will move because they need the income they had in order to make
house payments, car payments, etc.
I find it very sad that many companies think of their employees as nothing
but a number. They would not have a company if it were not for their
employees.
The savings that companies have when they move to cheaper labor is not
passed on to the consumer.
Perhaps when companies move to another country to make their parts, etc
those parts should have a huge tariff on them when the company wants to get
them back to the US.
I don't have the answers and I feel bad for the families and lives that
are effected by this trend in US manufacturing.
Linda Fort
rural Winona
Companies in Europe have had to prove that they cannot operate profitably
before they do these kinds of layoffs.
Here we have this free-market fundamentalism that says we must always allow the
dollar to do what it will. When the TRW executive said that the layoffs were
'because the customer demands lower prices' I think 'because the owners demand
higher profits' is just as likely.
Citizens pay for the roads they run on, the police that protect them, the
government stabilizes the currency they use and these corporations exist in a
legal framework created by and for we the people. I fail to see how requiring
they contribute to the communities that have supported them is somehow out of
bounds.
(And if someone (hi Dad) starts talking about the 'inflexibility of European
businesses hamstringing them' I would look at the relative strength of the
Dollar and the Euro._
Even if I didn't know about TRW/Lake Center, I'd be shocked at the
economic irrelevance of John Slade's comments.
The customers to which TRW refer are choosing suppliers to make
components for autos they sell in a broad market with international
competitors to both the auto companies and the suppliers. Without
orders, the manufacturer is useless. An international manufacturer
has plants with various characteristics.... TRW is in effect saying
they cannot get orders that will pay them enough to make certain items
in Winona (Rushford....). If this be true, there isn't much a
responsible corporation can do about it. TRW no doubt is seeking to
develop products they can afford to make here.
Tim Slade
>-----Original Message-----
>From: John Slade [mailto:jslade@labornet.org]
>Sent: Monday, August 25, 2008 3:21 PM
>To: Winona Online Democracy
>Subject: Re: [Winona] Losing jobs
>(And if someone (hi Dad) starts talking about the
>'inflexibility of European businesses hamstringing them' I
>would look at the relative strength of the Dollar and the Euro._
I suggest that relative unemployment rates also be evaluated. European
unemployment runs much higher than ours.
In addition, a business which is not maximizing its profits is also not
doing its employees any long term favors. Layoffs can serve to protect the
jobs of those who remain.
Nothing good happens without profits.
Glen Schumann
Winona, MN
<email obscured>
Phone: 507.454.3056
FAX: 507.454.3056