Thread: More American Jobs headed to Mexico

BRUNSWICK FACTORY HEADED FOR MEXICO: Move topples spirits


BY CARON ALARAB FREE PRESS BUSINESS WRITER


Created: 9/24/2005 8:31:34 AM
Updated: 9/24/2005 8:32:29 AM


Bowling ball plant's upcoming relocation hurts Muskegon

MUSKEGON - The bowling center quickly filled up with blue-collar customers eager to toss their Brunswick balls down Brunswick lanes.


The Brunswick pinsetters quickly replaced fallen pins as local leagues competed for the highest scores on the Brunswick boards. It was a typical evening at Northway Lanes.


Brad Jacobs, whose family has managed Northway for 20 years, said he always hawked Brunswick balls to promote American- and Muskegon-made merchandise.


"We wanted to support the local people making them," he said. "But now, it really doesn't matter to us."


In June, Brunswick Corp. announced plans to move its Muskegon bowling ball work to Reynosa, Mexico. Executives said six years of declining profits fueled the decision. While 275 sales and support employees will stay, 115 union jobs will be phased out during the 1- to 2-year move. The Lake Forest, Ill.-based company has been manufacturing in Muskegon since 1906.


"There's no question that Muskegon has played a big part in the company's history," said John Stransky, president of the bowling and billiards division. "But it's a global economy."



Victim of global competition
The loss of bowling ball manufacturing in Muskegon is akin to Detroit losing an auto plant. Such decisions dishearten those who take pride in Michigan's manufacturing history. Since the early 20th Century when factories replaced lumberyards nationwide, the Midwest has been the heart of blue-collar culture. Bowling has always symbolized that culture.


While manufacturing jobs have been migrating to Mexico for decades, the loss of an American icon like the Brunswick ball shows what few things are sacred in the face of global competition.


Cindy Larson, president of the Muskegon Chamber of Commerce, said the Brunswick decision marks the end of the manufacturing economy.


"That's who we used to be and now we're something else," she said. "People are trying to move on."


For Brunswick ball plant employees, however, moving on will be difficult.


When plastic ball compounder Ken Johnson started at Brunswick at age 18, the company made everything from balls and pinsetters to scoreboards in Muskegon. The division employed more than 1,500 people and boasted some of the best bowling leagues around. More than 70% of Brunswick sales came from bowling products as the number of U.S. bowling centers reached an all-time high at 10,883 in 1963 and membership in bowling associations climbed to 9 million by 1980.


But the threat of foreign competition loomed as the industry evolved. Neighborhood centers gave way to family centers, wooden lanes went synthetic and many leagues disbanded. The number of centers dropped to fewer than 6,000 and association membership slumped to 3 million bowlers. To stay competitive, Brunswick launched international operations, moved most manufacturing overseas and invested in other industries. Today, the bowling icon depends on the watercraft industry for 85% of its profits and bowling for 8%.



Workers feel betrayed
When Brunswick's Muskegon management announced the move to Mexico in June, 54-year-old Johnson and his coworkers felt sucker-punched.


"It was like somebody had just walked by and hit you in the guts," said Johnson, who has been with the company for 37 years.


As a compounder, Johnson casts plastic material around the core of the ball, after which a ball maker grinds it, engraves it, buffs it and ships it. While union employees had heard rumors of the move, many are still in denial.


"Even if you see it coming, there's always a chance they could sell to another company that wants to stay here," said plastic ball compounder Bill Ream, president of Local 1813 of the International Association of Machinists, known as the Brunswick division.


During a bargaining committee meeting on Sept. 8 in Muskegon, union members discussed failed efforts to halt the move.


"They dumped us," said pipe fitter and 38-year Brunswick veteran John Dailey. "They told us we could work for nothing and it wouldn't make a difference."


Although 30 union employees with seniority, including Johnson, will get storekeeping and distribution jobs, many feel Brunswick should have worked directly with the union to keep the plant open.


"They've never approached me about it," said Ream, a Brunswick employee for 15 years. "If they don't ask for help, what can we do?"



Production cheaper in Mexico
In defense of the move, Stransky said Chinese competition for the lower quality house-ball market and rising competition for the elite balls marketed to individual bowlers caused bowling ball profits to plummet. Stransky said the company's American elite ball competition includes Columbia 300, Ebonite and Storm Bowling. After the move to Reynosa, where labor costs are one-tenth of those in Muskegon, the company will save more than $6 million per year. "We had to look at serious ways of making money," he said. "Pay cuts would have been insufficient."


Stransky said the company has discussed financial concerns with union employees at quarterly meetings for the last three years.


"We care very much about our people and we really wanted to do the right thing," he said, adding that company will help employees find new opportunities.


Brunswick will make balls in Muskegon until late 2006. Ream said he would keep playing the 10-pin game, just not with Brunswick between his fingers.


"I'm changing balls and buying from the competition," Ream said, "as long as it's an American-made product."

http://www.wzzm13.com/news/news_article ... ryid=44644

This would be a good time to get the people of Muskegon to move in two directions. First not to take their anger out on individual Mexican or Latino immigrants. Second to pass ordinances at the municipal level to pressure employers to check immigration status through the DHS and crack down against day labor points. This would especially be to protect the former Brunswick employees
from facing unauthorized job competition.