Ford Repays Union Concessions with Closing of Foundry Plant

This is the opening paragraph in the Cleveland Plain Dealer's story on the closing of the Ford foundry plant in Brook Park, Ohio:

"Barely a year after workers agreed to concessions to guarantee new work at Ford Motor Co.'s foundry in Brook Park, the automaker announced Monday it will close that factory in 2009."

And where are the jobs going? "Joe Hinrichs, Ford's vice president for North American manufacturing, said the company is getting out of the foundry business altogether, sending that work to a series of suppliers in Canada, Europe and South America."

This part of the story explains what happened:

"A year ago, the Brook Park plants were among the first to agree to new work rules that make it easier for Ford to outsource work and move workers between different jobs. In return, the casting plant was supposed to get the engine block for a 6.2-liter V-8 engine to be used in upcoming pickups and SUVs.

"Ford Motor Co. told us if we passed the competitive operating agreement and put ourselves in a more-competitive position, we'd get new work," said UAW Local 1250 President Tim Levandusky.

He said he knew Ford would have trouble keeping that promise a few months after the company made it. Instead of using cast iron, the automaker wanted to make the engine block with a newer graphite technology that would have meant expensive upgrades at the plant."

Oh, one other thing, while Ford and GM are outsourcing casting operations, guess who isn't? "Ford's biggest foreign-owned competitors, Honda Motor Co. and Toyota Motor Co., avoid outsourcing engine components because of the need to guarantee quality on those vital parts". By the way, Toyota is kicking Ford's butt on sales of vehicles.

Don't worry, though. Some writer like Thomas Friedman of the New York Times, who married an heiress from a billionaire's family, will tell us why globalization is good for us and why we should be happy that Ohio has lost hundred of thousands of manufacturing jobs. Of course, he doesn't have to worry about losing his job, or does he? After all, couldn't the NYT find pompous windbags in India who would do his job for a fraction of the cost?

Click on the link in this entry's title to read the whole PD article.

Report Says 3.2 Million U.S. Manufacturing Jobs Lost

The AP put out a story yesterday, April 20, 2007, about the loss of manufacturing jobs in America. The story points out that 84 percent of Americans in the labor force are employed in service jobs, up from 81 percent in 2000. This loss of manufacturing jobs has put "16 percent of the nation's 379 metropolitan areas are in recession, reflecting primarily the troubles in manufacturing. There have been heavy job losses in a variety of industries from textiles and apparel to paper and furniture."

Most of these manufacturing job losses can be explained by two words: China and Mexico. That is where the jobs are going. These job losses are caused by cheaper labor rates and by the Chinese government keeping its currency artificially low compared to the currency of the United States.

Currently the job losses are being seen in manufacturing, but according to one expert quoted in the article, job losses will soon spread to service jobs. This is from the article: "Princeton economist Alan Blinder, who was vice chairman of the Federal Reserve during the Clinton administration, says the number of jobs at risk of being shipped out of the country could reach 40 million over the next 10 to 20 years. That would be one out of every three service sector jobs that could be at risk."

When you start looking at Democratic candidates for our party's 2008 nomination ask yourself which ones will fight for American workers and which ones won't.

Columbus Dispatch Reports 2006 Manufacturing Job Losses

The Columbus Reported that 2006 tied 2003 for record number of job losses in Ohio's manufacturing sector. Ohio has now lost over 200,000 manufacturing jobs. It's percentage of people employed in manufacturing has gone from 17% of the work force down to 14%. A big reason is competition from overseas companies. This state is seeing the loss of good paying jobs.

The media likes to report on unemployment figures. Unemployment figures, though, are only the tip of the analysis. If you are replacing manufacturing jobs with service industry jobs and if such jobs don't pay as much, then consumers have less money to spend. Consumers spending less will eventually result in fewer jobs in the service sector. It means consumers having less money to spend on doctors, lawyers, insurance, dentists, and other professions who think their education will protect them from the effects of Ohio losing manufacturing jobs.