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Tenn. Factory Worker Tells Truth About Outsourcing
By The Electrical Worker @ Daily Kos Wed Jun 22, 2011
Employees of the Philips lighting fixture plant in Sparta, Tenn., were among those honored for their efforts to keep an award-winning light fixture plant from moving to Mexico June 20.
They were invited to tell their story before 400 people at the annual awards celebration sponsored by the labor rights organization American Rights at Work in Washington, D.C.
Bo McCurry, a 25-year employee, told the crowd
I’m here today on behalf of a group of people who are losing their jobs in Sparta, Tennessee. But more than that, I’m here today on behalf of every family in America -every community and economy that is suffering for the same reason that we are -a European-owned company is abusing our trade laws and taking our jobs.I want to speak today to every person who has ever considered holding a share of Philips stock, bought a Philips light bulb or installed a Philips light fixture - because you’re not going to like what they’re doing with your money. What they’re doing is not good for America, for Sparta, for me and my family. But it’s not even good for the company and stockholders, in the long run.
The factory had received numerous awards over the years for excellence, including being named one of North America’s top 10 plants by Industry Week magazine in 2009.
But without explanation, Netherlands-based Philips – which purchased the factory in 2007 – announced last fall that it was shutting down it down and moving most of the work to Mexico by 2012, putting 275 workers out of a job.
As industry analyst Kevin Meyer wrote about the closure announcement, it was:
Yet another decision completely disconnected from business reality … Build a new plant, hire a couple hundred new people at a cheaper wage, training them, and deal with initial quality issues. Somehow that is cheaper than preserving the knowledge, creativity, and experience of a couple hundred employees at a 46-year old facility that has reinvented itself.
The Sparta plant would be the sixth U.S. Philips facility outsourced since 2007.
Says McCurry:
America – we’ve got to pay attention here. There is a reason that the Euro has been doing so well while the dollar has not. There is a reason that we have more people dealing cards in casinos than running lathes in this country. We’ve been asleep at the wheel while other countries have bought up all of our factories and then taken our globally competitive business and put it in other places. They pocket all of the profits – we let them do that – but now, we don’t even have an opportunity to make a living by making that money for them.
Go to www.tellphilips.com for more information.
Originally posted to The Electrical Worker on Wed Jun 22, 2011 at 08:38 AM PDT.
Also republished by Class Warfare Newsletter: The Plutocracy VS the Working Class.
