[lbo-talk] White-Collar Blues/ Blue-Collar too

Charles Brown cbrown at michiganlegal.org
Mon Dec 29 13:56:13 PST 2003


END OF THE LINE: Life beyond factories dangles by a thread

Anxieties rise as once-reliable jobs leave state December 29, 2003

BY JOHN GALLAGHER FREE PRESS BUSINESS WRITER

Back in 1970, when John Mahoney came home from Vietnam, finding a good paycheck in his native Battle Creek was as easy as breathing.

A FREE PRESS SERIES Few states rely on manufacturing jobs as much as Michigan does. In recent months, concern over the decline in manufacturing has gripped almost everyone from hourly line workers to Gov. Jennifer Granholm. In "End of the Line," the Free Press examines the problems plaguing this all-important economic segment: TUESDAY: The tool and die industry, which relies on manufacturing clients for work, faces desperate times as its primary customers cut back or shut down.

WEDNESDAY: More blue collar workers are having to network and continue education to find employment beyond the assembly line. These workers must learn how to make their skills marketable.

"I came home and everybody was wanting me to go to work -- here, there and everywhere," he recalls. He spent most of the next 30 years in factory jobs; the most recent involved cutting acoustical panels used on Ford vehicles to lessen engine noise.

It was a decent living. Earning $15 an hour in recent years, Mahoney had time for hunting. And with his wife, Donna, working, too, her son could attend college at Western Michigan University.

But a year ago, Collins & Aikman, the owner of the plant where Mahoney worked in Marshall, shut down the factory. Mahoney, who is 55, hasn't worked since. Now, when he hears of job openings, he waits on line for hours with hundreds of other unemployed men and women just to fill out an application.

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Monday, December 29, 2003

Effort stalls to protect factory jobs

Fed initiatives to stem decline go nowhere; Michigan legislation may be too little, too late

By Lisa Zagaroli and Gary Heinlein / The Detroit News

WASHINGTON - Federal action to support the nation's battered manufacturing sector is stalling, casting doubt on plans by Michigan lawmakers to halt a sharp decline in factory jobs.

Absent aggressive new programs from Washington, experts doubt state action alone can have much impact - particularly in trying to rescue severely threatened sectors like the state's tool and die industry.

Nevertheless, Michigan, No. 3 among the states in loss of manufacturing jobs over the past two years, is likely soon to enact a package of tax incentives and other programs to support the industries that have created immense wealth over the past century and now are wracked by global competition.

Tooling companies - the backbone of the manufacturing economy - are grateful for the help.

"They say that 30 percent of the companies have gone out of business, and the prediction was that 50 percent would go out of business in the next few years," said Laurie Moncrief, president of Schmald Tool & Die in Flint.

"You need to help these businesses in order to help workers," she said. "The tool and die industry has been hurt so much. I hope this won't put the state in a further bind, but the companies have (to) be able to stay in business to provide taxes and jobs, too."

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From: Dwayne Monroe <idoru345 at yahoo.com>

Carl Remick posted:

The White-Collar Blues

By BOB HERBERT

...

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/29/opinion/29HERB.html

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