posted on April 30, 2003 06:10:34 AM new
Thanks to cheap foreign labor and imported steel, yet another steel plant is closing its doors today. From what I understand, the truck frames that it was producing are now going to Brazil. It's more important than ever now to do your homework when buying a new vehicle. Buy American! Cleveland has lost 100's of jobs due to steel imports with the closing of LTV Steel and now Midland Steel. According to this article Midland was the last American-owned, unionized heavy-duty truck frame maker in the United States. What a shame.
Bid to sell Midland fails; firm to close
04/30/03
Peter Krouse
Plain Dealer Reporter
Midland Steel Products Co., which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in January, will close today after an attempt to sell the company failed, said Cleveland City Councilman Jay Westbrook.
Westbrook, who helped Midland receive tax abatements from the city in 2000, said he was told of the developments yesterday by Midland Chief Executive Salomao Ioschpe.
Midland's main operations at West 106th Street and Madison Avenue have about 170 hourly employees represented by the United Auto Workers, down from about 450 a year ago, Local 486 President Don McGhee said. The company also has operations in Solon and Garland, Texas. Westbrook said the company has about 40 salaried workers.
Ioschpe could not be reached for comment. The company has said that the decline in heavy-duty truck production has hurt business, as have high domestic steel prices caused by tariffs on imported steel.
Midland filed for bankruptcy protection after negotiations with its senior lenders failed. The company has been supplying truck frames to such manufacturers as General Motors Corp. and Navistar. It is the last American-owned, unionized heavy-duty truck frame maker in the United States, McGhee said.
McGhee said an auction for Midland's assets was to have been held Monday but that no bidders came forward. He said a prior bidder, serving as a so-called stalking horse in the process, had been negotiating with suppliers but eventually withdrew.
The company, founded in 1894 as Parish & Bringham, has been a steady producer of vehicle frames, and McGhee would like for someone to buy the operations and continue.
"That's still a hope that I have," he said. "It may be a little far-fetched."
posted on April 30, 2003 07:34:40 AM new
We have reached a viscious circle here in the US an unfortunately people are starting to see the affects of it... people need more money to live because prices have gone up, prices have gone up because empoloyers have to pay more to employees, rents have increasd because electric and water rates have risen, property taxes have risen....
The solution for businesses has been to take it out of country, even the service jobs are leaving... Dell just sent the majority of their cs to India... if that was the article... it would not come up for me...
NAFTA was the start and now look at the floodgate, sure people can go back to school on TAA or NAFTA or worker retraining, but what job awaits them when it is done... I think healthcare jobs are the only ones on the rise right now, but how many nurses can a hospital employ?
posted on April 30, 2003 07:49:04 AM new
Cheap labor,12,Cheap labor.The hospitals have been working with skeleton shifts for years..(2nd and 3rd shifts)..Nurses have been over worked since the 80s maybe earlier.
3 million jobs have desolved from the market place,and yet you still believe employees are over paid, and because all the utilities have increased,Thats called greed.
The Companys are paying less for Co. hires,including Dell,after mass layoffs,this still isnt enough for the Co.s,they want slave rates,1.00 or 2.00 a day.
The Companys got themselves in trouble, cooking their books and lying to the stock holders,now they really dont have to worry about Taxes of any kind, being overseas.
posted on April 30, 2003 08:05:39 AM new
I worked doing artwork and typesetting for a local UAW newspaper for a couple of years. When I would visit the union, which is almost always located either next to or across from the plant, I'd look at the sign in the parking lot. If you had an American made car, you could park in the front lot. If it was foreign, you had a LONG way to walk. People in the steel industry as well as the auto industry have made great concessions in order to try to save the companies they work for. LTV was a classic example where the workers gave up everything, but the company execs kept getting wealthier and wealthier. They walked away with millions. The workers walked away with nothing. The retires have lost their pensions and health insurance. Who approved the HUGE bonuses even during the turmoil of bankruptcy? The court system did, that's who. The company higher ups and the board members had to approach the bankruptcy court in order to get approval for the bonuses and the jack asses that sit behind the bench said "sure, why not."
I, too, once worked for a company that sold out to the Japanese. The board members and stock holders got rich, the workers just lost their jobs. All during the buyout talks, the workers were told what a good thing this was. They were told that there would be plenty of work and all of their jobs would be safe. Sure. The sad thing is that most of the workers bought the story. I was lucky enough to get out while the getting was good.
We may still be the richest nation on Earth, but if we continue in this direction I don't think it will last. The tides will turn and we'll be left in the dust. Corporate greed, pure and simple.
posted on April 30, 2003 08:30:41 AM new
What you both are calling greed is the Captialist system at its finest, why else would someone go into business or invest in a business, but to make MONEY.
If you can make more profit paying some chinese worker $3/day vs some union worker $15/hr and the US has been kind enough to lower tarrifs... where do you think my factory will be?
eBay is a prime example of a capitalist market society... How many buy from overseas and sell here?
All to make a profit... which is not a bad thing.
AIN'T LIFE GRAND...
posted on April 30, 2003 09:19:24 AM new
12,name the 15.00 an hour workers.Most of the Unions are Company owned.After the mass layoffs by Dell,The 10.00 hour workers,were rehired at 6.00 and 7.00 and even then just a small amount of rehires.
Our Country is bankrupt,our assets are going to the highest bidders.
Guess what?..They dont live in America.
The houseing bubble is fixing to destroy the last hope, of all Americans.
posted on May 1, 2003 08:19:51 AM new
Any manufactoring job that is low skilled is faced with being sent overseas.
I would qualify "low skilled" manufactoring job as any job that requires little education and can generally be learned in several weeks or less.
And it is not just wages. While wages are a major reason, no or very low taxes for schools, roads, hospitals, water/sewer, police/fire and all other infrastructure improvements are also why many companies are relocating.
posted on May 1, 2003 11:14:31 AM new
Unfortunately I think the h1b issue is victimized by it opponents inability to decide what the real issue is. There are three different arguements that become so intermingled that they come across as insincere. Are you against H1bs because of rising unemployment issues in the US, or is it because of employer abuse which vitimizes the Visa holders, or wait... there is the new faithful fallback..... the dreaded Terrorism Threat.
If opponents could decide on one arguement and put their combined efforts behind it I think there stands a better chance for change.
Oh yeah - Terrorism Threat should not be the issue that they choose... it smacks of desperation.
posted on May 1, 2003 11:36:35 AM new
Cheryl,Thanks...Did you hear, Walmart got in trouble for stealing workers hours?..Not paying for all hours worked.All the workers were women.I know one lady that works at Walmart, and she was always upset at what Walmart was doing,I thought it was an isolated case,Hell!..the whole Company.
I think the DOL, finally got around to an investigation.
posted on May 1, 2003 11:43:19 AM new
answer this question -
if more and more people are getting less and less pay,then why are houses going up in value,or holding their value ?
posted on May 1, 2003 12:12:12 PM new
Stop - the real indicators can be seen in the 11% drop in housing starts and rise in previously steady morgage default rates.
[ edited by neonmania on May 1, 2003 12:12 PM ]
posted on May 1, 2003 04:45:27 PM new
Cleveland, which is where I live, used to be a huge steel town. We had Republic Steel, US Steel, etc. First, they were buying each other out. Then, they were just closing the doors. The following is a story that ran in Dec. 2001 when LTV was going down. It's sad, really. I know some of the retirees. If you are interested in the bonus scandal tied to LTV Steel, here is the link: http://www.smeal.psu.edu/news/innews/oct01/compan.html
"Sam Polis figures 43 years working for LTV Steel in Aliquippa should have bought him a worry-free retirement. Instead, he spent yesterday outside the federal courthouse here fretting about his future.
Tony Perry, 81, retired from LTV Steel in 1983 after 34 1/2 years of service. He now receives $240 less in monthly pension benefits than he did when he retired, due to cuts. (Tony Dejak/Associated Press)
"My whole retirement is at stake," said Polis, 63, as he stood smack in the middle of several hundred retirees and laid-off workers who converged on this old Ohio steel town to protest LTV's decision to shut down and sell its steel assets.
As retirees hoisted placards and chanted "Let's make steel" and other slogans on a barricaded street outside the courthouse, attorneys for LTV tried to persuade U.S. Bankruptcy Judge William Bodoh that the steelmaker was running out of borrowed money and could no longer afford to operate. Testimony continues today.
Thomas Garrett, LTV's chief financial officer, told the bankruptcy court that all of the company's customers went elsewhere after it filed a motion two weeks ago proposing that it shut down.
LTV sought approval to shut down plants in Cleveland; Hennipin, Ill.; and East Chicago, Ind., idling 7,500 workers and jeopardizing benefits for 56,000 retirees or spouses, including some 12,000 in Western Pennsylvania.
Anthony Pavinato, a retiree from Hennipin, is not yet Medicare eligible and worried that his health benefits would be dropped or reduced while he's in the middle of treatment for bladder cancer.
"I'm caught between a rock and a hard place. No one else will want to insure me," said Pavinato, who traveled all night on a bus with other Illinois retirees. "I worked 32 years and four months, and you feel as if you've thrown it all in the street. I think I deserve decent health benefits."
The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. insures defined benefit pension plans up to certain legal limits, which generally means a reduction for retirees whose plans are assumed by the quasi-government agency. It does not insure health-care benefits.
Since seeking Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last December, LTV has relied on an $882 million loan that expires in June. In September, the company applied for a federal loan guarantee that would cover most of $250 million in new borrowing, but the loan guarantee board has questioned the company's ability to repay.
The United Steelworkers, which has twice in recent months revamped its contract to save LTV money, sought a delay from the judge to give the union time to lobby in Washington, D.C., for the loan guarantee.
"The judge has got to give us time. We've earned it," David McCall, the union's lead negotiator with LTV, told the crowd before the hearing began. "We'll put political pressure on the loan board in Washington. That will allow us to keep our jobs, our retirement and our retiree health care."
The impact on retirees will vary depending on their age and when they retired. Some are eligible for Medicare and risk losing supplemental health-care insurance. Some who are not old enough for Medicare rely entirely on company plans.
"Our younger people are going to get crushed once they have to pick up their own hospitalization," said Pat Carnevale, a retired steelworker and union officer from LTV's defunct coke plant in Hazelwood. "Some people are going to have to go back to work."
Charlie Kotuba, 59, retired when the Hazelwood plant was closed two years ago. He fears government insurance would cover perhaps half of his $2,700 monthly pension, which includes an uninsured early-retirement supplement.
Albert Pindel, retired 21 years from LTV's Pittsburgh Works on the South Side, said he and his wife would be wiped out if they lose prescription drug benefits and the insurance that supplements Medicare.
"If it wasn't for Social Security, I'd be dead for sure," he said.
Bud Diley, 78, retired from Aliquippa after a plant shut down in the mid 1980s, could end up paying roughly half of his $1,266 monthly pension benefit for health-care coverage. "It's going to hurt. I don't know how bad but plenty bad enough," he said.
Wallace Davis, 77, also of Aliquippa, gets a monthly pension check of $525 and joked among his friends yesterday that he could end up spending it all or more for health-care coverage. "I couldn't do it," he said. "You can't get blood out of a turnip."
Battered by competition from cheaper foreign and nonunion mills, 27 U.S. steelmakers are in Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, including LTV and Bethlehem Steel Corp. All or most of them are looking for union concessions.
"If only people would step back and look at the repercussions," said Dennis Henry, president of USW Local 1011 at LTV's Indiana Harbor works, in East Chicago, Ind. "What's at stake are our plants, our jobs, our way of living and our communities."
Cheryl
[ edited by CBlev65252 on May 1, 2003 04:46 PM ]
posted on May 2, 2003 09:04:01 AM new
The steel retirees are just the first shoe to fall. There are many corporations whose retirement systems are under funded. Most of the US auto corps have under funded pensions.
here's the real rub - many want social security invested in the stock market, but guess where all of these under funded pension funds are invested ? In the stock market!! In fact, the corporations shrug the under funding situation off because the figures only look bad because the stock market is down.
So how many of you want your social security pension dependent on the rise and fall of the stock market ?
Many corporations are also trying to force employees to convert their defined benefit pensions into lump sum 404K pensions, and many of the older workers are getting screwed.
But one thing I can not understand is why the price of so many things have not come down with all this cheap overseas labor etc. ?
A good pair of gym shoes should only be $8, and a great pair of dress shoes should be $10, good shirts/blouses should be $5, pants $7, dresses $8.
When they are paying the workers so little, why aren't the prices coming down ?
posted on May 2, 2003 09:51:45 AM new
Reamond, that is simple. Corporations are not moving their labor operations overseas to facilitate price cuts, it is done purely to increase profits.
This is why there is some backlash against these companies that take advantage of cheap foreign labor. Minor adjustments in wages from foreign corporations could drastically change economic situations in the areas surrounding the plants without resulting in higher consumer prices. Just think what could happen if the large bonuses that corpoate officers are making today was used to supliment the wages of foreign workers. This could spark huge economic changes in the communities surrounding them, eliminating much of the stimulous for the illegal immigration to our country that you hate so much.
posted on May 2, 2003 10:19:15 AM new
Ironic that capitalism is bringing about the more equitable global distribution of wealth.
It sounds clear hear that the lower classes, domestically, are consistently realising little or negative growth, but how are the blokes at the top?
It sounds like some of the proletariat are getting the picture.
Perhaps now that the world oil supplies are under ‘friendly’ control, fuel prices will drop and generate some local new petrol-guzl’n vehicle manufacture. Let’s hope those blokes at the top don’t help those commies to make cheap/fuel efficient little cars and suck in local consumers into increasing our foreign debt.
Let’s hope the blokes at the top are patriotic enough to keep the profits for us instead of the others.
nah! An oil magnate would share!
Oh Capitalism! freeeeeee, to do What Ever the market will bear.
AIN’T LIFE GRAND!
posted on May 2, 2003 11:20:49 AM new
Reamond - please forgive - I just had a convesation regarding this same subject last night with others that did not see the situation quite so clearly. Guess I was still in that "are people really this niave?" mode.
As for the porn industry - anyone who has ever lived in North Hollywood can tell you all about it. More porn is produced there than anywhere in the world - most of it in residential locations giving a whole new meaning to "girl next door"
Also, thanks to companies such as Hustler and their forray into retail, stores that specialize in adult entertainment are no longer hidden in the worst areas of town behind blackened windows but are now found in mainstream commuter heavy areas removing some of the stigma for middle america. You would be surprised to see how many of the "cruise crowd" return to their ships after a day in port in SD with a Hustler store bag among their arm load of new purchases.
