I haven't seen this reported here yet, by all accounts an employee informed that she would be losing her job due to the work being transferred to a non-union factory in the US South. People here in Ontario have already experienced this phenomenon with the EMD plant, attempting to reduce workers' wages to the lowest possible minimum.
I followed your link to GoErie, but there seems to be a paucity of information. The VERY short article says nothing about the decedant being a former GE employee, or even that it was a woman.
If you've got any more info to pass on I'm sure we'd all like to follow this.
I found this from the same source, I had originally heard that the person was a woman but it apparently was a man, I stupidly didn't save the link to the original place I accidentally saw it while surfing for something else.
cp8905 already experienced this phenomenon with the EMD plant, attempting to reduce workers' wages to the lowest possible minimum.
already experienced this phenomenon with the EMD plant, attempting to reduce workers' wages to the lowest possible minimum.
A couple realities here:
1) You can’t build something as complex as a road going locomotive with stupid people. And good people won’t work cheap.
2) Life doesn’t come with a guaranty. You think GE transportation can count on those sales always being there in the future? UP has already been taking major deliveries from a Mexican plant. Once the choice becomes finding lower labor costs (which can come from more automation + higher wages with fewer workers) against NOT GETTING THE ORDER, what would you do? What would you Have to do?
There is clearly a personal tragedy here, and we should all say a word for their soul. It also seems clear that if you commit suicide over a job loss there is some additional stress going on. How do you un-kill yourself if you change your mind the next day? There are too many other options in life, including a possibility of moving to Texas for a grand adventure in life.
Be careful how you see this.
LensCapOn cp8905 already experienced this phenomenon with the EMD plant, attempting to reduce workers' wages to the lowest possible minimum. A couple realities here: 1) You can’t build something as complex as a road going locomotive with stupid people. And good people won’t work cheap. 2) Life doesn’t come with a guaranty. You think GE transportation can count on those sales always being there in the future? UP has already been taking major deliveries from a Mexican plant. Once the choice becomes finding lower labor costs (which can come from more automation + higher wages with fewer workers) against NOT GETTING THE ORDER, what would you do? What would you Have to do? There is clearly a personal tragedy here, and we should all say a word for their soul. It also seems clear that if you commit suicide over a job loss there is some additional stress going on. How do you un-kill yourself if you change your mind the next day? There are too many other options in life, including a possibility of moving to Texas for a grand adventure in life. Be careful how you see this.
Not plausible. For economists, W(f) productivity, meaning, all things being equal, wages should rise or fall as productivity rises or fall (generally this is unidirectional, rising only, as new technologies generally do not end and force us to use less productive methods). But the unprecedented situation you have seen in the USA (and this is well-known around the world) is that since 1970 or so you have seen steady productivity growth accompanied by stagnating wages. The real (adjusted for inflation) median wage in the US is lower than it was at its peak in 1973 despite steady productivity growth:
ib330 figureA.png.538
If wages do not rise with productivity we explain the difference as "rent seeking", meaning that capital is taking advantage of its power in the market to coerce workers into accepting a lower wage than they are entitled to based on productivity gains. The main culprit? Many economists, including several that have won Nobel Prizes (i.e. Krugman) point to the ability to move factories and permanently replace workers (luckily Canada hasn't been affected as strongly as the US though the same phenomena is at work here).
This looks like rent seeking to me.
P.S My posts are being moderated so don't expect a quick response.
And one thing that appears to be happening around the world - when production moves to a 'low cost' area, shortly thereafter the costs begin to rise as the new work force begins to understand how they are being taken advantage of and undertake efforts to see that their compensation more closely follows the economic benefit of their effort for the company they are working for.
Cheap never stays cheap forever. Some companies that need skilled employees are moving production back to the USA because they now find the US is cheaper.
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
BaltACD And one thing that appears to be happening around the world - when production moves to a 'low cost' area, shortly thereafter the costs begin to rise as the new work force begins to understand how they are being taken advantage of and undertake efforts to see that their compensation more closely follows the economic benefit of their effort for the company they are working for. Cheap never stays cheap forever. Some companies that need skilled employees are moving production back to the USA because they now find the US is cheaper.
You're right, but that may take a long time. China's factories have been staffed by former agricultural workers pushed out by productivity gains in agriculture flooding the cities and driving wages down (supply ^, price v) and that won't last forever. But for people in the USA who entered the work force in the 1980s through today it has meant a declining standard of living compared to their parents. I saw an article on Huffingtonpost.ca the other day about how most American millennials (the generation entering college now) have what is described as a "permanent melancholy," giving up on ever having a good job with benefits. So-called Generation X (born between 1965 and about 1985) will only experience a lower standard of living in their entire working lives.
Most skilled jobs can be broken down into steps, each of which requires less skill than the whole. Henry Ford understood that when he replaced the need for skilled craftsman with unskilled assembly line workers. It would require a highly skilled individual to build a motor from scratch. Yet, if you break the building process down into a enough steps you could probably get a few thousand monkeys to build one. Technology and the application of clearly defined and controlled assembly line processes act as an "intellectual fulcrum"..i.e. a hundred easy to find morons can build a Cadillac verses a few hard to find really bright and skilled craftsman. No business owner, in any business really, wants to be reliant on skilled hard to find labor. That's why the push is on to build "point it and go" trucks that don't require much skill to drive. Same with airplanes.. the more automation and controls the better to allow for the common mediocre pilot to fly them. Same for management positions, by the way. Not every business can hire a Jack Welsh or Steve Jobs, so we have management schools that stress processes that almost any idiot can follow. The push is on to dumb down every job so that those jobs can be outsourced, or better yet, filled by that vast pool of local unskilled labor. Ever try to hire a skilled person? It's tough. Much tougher and often more expensive than hiring a small army of dummies who can connect the dots.
ndbprrI don't see any reference to how much US federal and state regulations are causing industry to have to relocate . The costs are stagering. Wages are typically near the bottom of the list of what an hours labor costs.
Source? I personally doubt this for two reasons. First, federal regulations shouldn't be less in Texas than Pennsylvania. Second, the amount of regulations companies face in the US are far less than in other countries. Germany, which has done phenomenally well since the collapse in 2007, has many more labor regulations than the US. For example, in Germany any company with more than a dozen I believe workers MUST by law form a works-council with I think 13 members, composed of one half from the union, one half from management, and a tiebreaker appointed by both. This council must approve all work rule changes, firings, etc.: all labor standards other than wages (which are negotiated by the unions and the company). There was just a story out a few days ago that Volkswagen has instituted such a policy at its plant in the US South (and that it is being opposed by politicians there). If you look at Canada, with our health care system companies aren't required to pay for employee health insurance (which was the reason EMD moved from Chicago to London Ont. in the first place). So, again, I see the GE move to the US South as rent seeking/ profit taking rather than an issue of competitiveness.
I read the following several years ago and was impressed with the "cold bucket of water in the face" wisdom. Let me pass it on.
It's not a family, it's a company. "They" don't want to know your name unless you make them a ton of money or foul up big time.
Love your wife, love your kids, love your dog, but NEVER love a company. Don't love anything that can't love you back.
On the other hand...
Capitalism is the worst form of an economic system there is, until you compare it to everything else.
Fully agree Firelock76.
And it's not just corporations. (despite the political attempts of the OP).
The US Army was increased in size, by congressional instruction, from something like 490,000 active duty soldiers to 580,000 active duty soldiers. (Iraq and Afghanistan) They Army didn't want the increase. It claimed that by the time it got the extra 90,000 soldiers they wouldn't be needed.
Well, guess what. Now the Army is reducing its manpower and soldiers who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, with many years of service, are not being allowed to re-enlist.
Another example is the Chicago Public Schools. Chicago is loosing population. That means there are fewer children to teach. And a bunch of teachers have been let go. It's just part of life. Adjustments have to be made. And public employees are not immune.
As my old econ professor used to say: "You cannot take pain out of the economy."
greyhounds Fully agree Firelock76. And it's not just corporations. (despite the political attempts of the OP). The US Army was increased in size, by congressional instruction, from something like 490,000 active duty soldiers to 580,000 active duty soldiers. (Iraq and Afghanistan) They Army didn't want the increase. It claimed that by the time it got the extra 90,000 soldiers they wouldn't be needed. Well, guess what. Now the Army is reducing its manpower and soldiers who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, with many years of service, are not being allowed to re-enlist. Another example is the Chicago Public Schools. Chicago is loosing population. That means there are fewer children to teach. And a bunch of teachers have been let go. It's just part of life. Adjustments have to be made. And public employees are not immune. As my old econ professor used to say: "You cannot take pain out of the economy."
Rubbish, you clearly don't know anything about economics, you are just mouthing aphorisms about it. You don't even know anything about the case at hand: these workers are not being laid off because of a lack of work or sales; their work is being transferred to lower-paid non union workers in the US South only for that reason, to pay them less.
As for your statement about "pain" (if a "professor" actually said that he is a hack, there is no such accepted principle in the field of economics outside of the far-right fringe) it certainly did not affect the CEO and other management:
"General Electric CEO Jeffrey Immelt saw his compensation rise 80 percent to $20.6 million in 2012. Immelt was appointed by President Barack Obama to head the President’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness, which advocates “insourcing” jobs to the US by lowering US wages."
Seems like two issues here.
1. The personal tragedy of the person who committed suicide. The reasons are likely complex, beyond the loss of employment.
2. The issue of plant closings and job losses because of relocation to places with cheaper labor. This is also a very complex issue.
C&NW, CA&E, MILW, CGW and IC fan
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