Thread: This week's report of job losses

November 12, 2006

"Industrial parts manufacturer Eaton Corp. has announced tentative plans to consolidate operations at two Michigan plants, closing one of them and moving up to 190 jobs to Mexico.

KENDALLVILLE, Ind. - Tower Automotive Inc. will close its northeastern Indiana auto parts plant next year, costing more than 100 workers their jobs.

Dana Corp. in the coming weeks will announce the locations of eight plants that will be closed as part of the company's efforts to improve its operations and finances. "We expect to continue to move manufacturing capacity from the U.S. to lower cost countries, such as Mexico," the company's filing said.

Timken to build plant in China. Timken's previously announced restructuring includes slashing 700 jobs, the closing of a plant in Georgia and one in Connecticut.


USA. Brunswick announces 645 job losses in phased shutdown of Steinbach & Cumberland facilities


HARTFORD, Conn., Nov. 9 (UPI) -- Bayer HealthCare will close its research facility in West Haven, Conn., where about 1,000 people work.

WAGRAM, N.C. The Laurinberg and Scotland County Chamber of Commerce has announced that a textile plant in Wagram will close.

Chamber president Jim Frank Henderson says WestPoint Stevens will close the plant by April 2007, laying off more than 800 workers.

Study sees increase in U.S. outsourcing
Houston Chronicle
• Comment: "Fortune 500 companies could potentially save $58 billion annually, or some $116 million per company, by offshoring general and administrative jobs, according to the Hackett Group, a strategic advisory firm. The study estimates that increased use of cheaper overseas labor could affect nearly 1.5 million back-office jobs over the next decade, or nearly 3,000 at a typical Fortune 500 company. And the jobs under review will go far beyond call centers."

www,americaneconomicalert.com

When these jobs are outsourced, the companies typically reduce cost and improve earnings. Ususally they are rewarded with an increase in their stock's price. Both political paries exclaim the economy is good, the stock market is doing well. Unfortunately, Main St. isn't doing well. People have lost their job. It may take them years to recover. Some will never recover. Their std. of living starts a downward spiral. Wall St. will not be happy unless we are working for $1 a day. There are more people in China, than there are American jobs.

Our free trade agreements just make it easier for compamies to more wherever labor is the cheapest. With Russia and Viet Nam joining the WTO, more jobs will be lost. Our politicians are helping corporations out source our jobs, eliminate our pensions and healthcare benefits. Within a few years the defined pension plan will no longer exist and we will all pay for our own health care.

these companies should not allow to sell thier wares in the USA,,to me that is just as bad as hiring illegals..let shut the doors and care for ourselfs..

Originally Posted by moosetracks

November 12, 2006

Houston Chronicle
• Comment: "Fortune 500 companies could potentially save $58 billion annually, or some $116 million per company, by offshoring general and administrative jobs, according to the Hackett Group, a strategic advisory firm. The study estimates that increased use of cheaper overseas labor could affect nearly 1.5 million back-office jobs over the next decade, or nearly 3,000 at a typical Fortune 500 company. And the jobs under review will go far beyond call centers."

www,americaneconomicalert.com

The large Indian offshoring companies now offer a service called Human Resources Outsourcing (HRO) which allows a company to send all of its "payroll functions" to India to have the dirty work, such as paycheck mailings and terminations done by low cost Indian labor. Since the Indians who do the work see the advantage of having Americans fired and replaced with low-cost Indian labor (who later raise their rates anyway) the downward spiral continues to fire more and more Americans from their jobs no matter what their merits.

Believe it or not, the Indian government is attempting to get American jobs which process social security benefits sent from out Federal government to the Indian offshore countries. Can you imagine how much corruption will go on in this process if the Feds approve this? (Can you imagine having to call an Indian call center to yell at Rajiv to find out why your check didn't arrive?)

http://inhome.rediff.com/money/2005/mar/23inter.htm

But HRO is projected as the fastest growing segment over the next three years with large-scale offshoring already taking place and larger international players like Fidelity, Exult and Hewitt setting up operations in India.

http://www.blogsource.org/2006/07/the_upside_and_.html

The upside and the downside of HR outsourcing
After IT and the BPO industry, HR outsourcing might well be the next big thing in outsourcing. Several top-rung companies—including Unilever, Cable & Wireless, BAE Systems, BT, and BBC—have already taken the outsourcing route for their HR services. In a couple of years, the HR outsourcing wave is expected to touch $75 billion. That's big money!

However, skeptics are beginning to raise an eyebrow or two at this growing trend. According to them, HR is a specialized area where an outsource service provider will not be able to understand the underlying dynamics; in the absence of an “internal re-engineering”, HR management is bound to lose its strategic edge.

Let's look at another downside: the danger of jobs drying out for existing HR employees is beginning to raise its ugly head. For instance, the Unilever move to outsource its HR function might leave its strong employee force of 3,300 executives high and dry. True, some of this force might be absorbed by outsourcing partner Accenture, but it has certainly led to a few faster heartbeats. As a recent article has it, the transformation to outsourcing will be very painful, but it can subsequently lead to insourcing—an even more painful process.

Originally Posted by alabamajim

these companies should not allow to sell thier wares in the USA,,to me that is just as bad as hiring illegals..let shut the doors and care for ourselfs..

We're caught in a spiral. A person loses a good paying job and goes to something paying less. Your standard of living would really crap out if it wasn't for the stuff coming back in cheaper. This increases your spending power somewhat at the lower income and allows you to hold on a little longer.

Originally Posted by loservillelabor

Originally Posted by alabamajim

these companies should not allow to sell thier wares in the USA,,to me that is just as bad as hiring illegals..let shut the doors and care for ourselfs..

We're caught in a spiral. A person loses a good paying job and goes to something paying less. Your standard of living would really crap out if it wasn't for the stuff coming back in cheaper. This increases your spending power somewhat at the lower income and allows you to hold on a little longer.

It's a DOWNWARD spiral. We are racing toward wages of $1 per day, with no pension, health care, or safety. We may indeed "hang on" a little longer, but what about our children ? If the entire world is racing toward the bottom, a terrible depression or slavery is in our future.

People earning $10 per hour or less do not have much of a disposable income for even the cheaper goods coming back in. They are trying to survive. Their utility bills, rent, food bill continues to increase.

Soon, health care will be out sourced to India. The number of unemployed or under employed people willing to work for $1 a day exceeds the total number of jobs in this country. Viet Nam and Russia will join the WTO. This will cause Mexico to lose more jobs and pressure greater numbers of illegals to come here.

Free Trade doesn't help the average worker, it only aids the international companies that can shift capital to which ever country has the lowest labor cost. My new Senator Sherrold Brown - OH promises to fight against free trade agreements. I hope he succeeds !

Free traders want open borders. They would like a North American Union. Imagine all the Mexicans that can possibly migrate North, standing in line for the jobs in Canada & the USA. If companies in Mexicao don't have enough employees, they merely move to Viet Nam.

I see the loss of good jobs, pensions and health care rapidly eroding faster and faster, unless we totally change our govt. Every free frader must be voted out of office. Every elected representative that suppots amnesty for illegals should be voted out of office.

You don't see the Germans or Japanese racing to the bottom. They have secure borders and protect their jobs. The Japanese support free trade, but not for Japan. They want other borders open so they can export, but they will always protect their industries and jobs.

The Germains also protect their jobs. They believe that good industrial jobs support their std. of living.

Only in America are we foolish enough to believe we can open our borders, out source our jobs, eliminate defined pensions, health care, and believe the future will always remain financially "rosey".

I see ( in the immediate future ) the baby boomer generation without adequate savings for retirement, competing with illegals for min. wage jobs. The baby boomers will be disadvantaged because they don't speak Spanish.

We need to think about breaking this downward spiral. Securing our borders, no amnesty, & raising the min wage will help. However a bigger battle is against our free trade agreements. Both political parties are in the financial debt of numerous corporations that want to maximize their profit and minimize our wages.