Still Looking

President Bush is still looking for someone he knows will help stop the flow of jobs out of America.

He had made a big splash several months earlier with the announcement that he was looking for a "manufacturing czar," an individual who could help to find solutions to the "loss of thousands of jobs in manufacturing... some of it because production moved overseas." He was getting ready to announce his choice, Tony Raimondo, when the word got out that Tony wasnt part of the solution, but part of the problem.

In 2002, Raimondo, CEO of Behlin Inc., a Nebraska metal buildings manufacturer, put 75 U.S. workers on the street. Then he set up a 180-worker factory in China. Raimondo had a history of abusing workers. He had played "divide and conquer" in a successful effort to decertify a union. Raimondo was fined $123,000 by OSHA for unsafe conditions in his factory. He was a board member of the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), a group that is fighting to cut overtime protections, stop an increase in the minimum wage and weaken workplace safety laws.

If he could have kept his dirty laundry off the front page, Raimondo would have fit well with Dr. Gregory Mankiw, the Presidents chief economist, on leave from his professorship at Harvard. As President Hill noted in his column last month, Mankiw openly praised the outsourcing of American jobs. His statement fired up folks across the political spectrum. GOP Rep. Donald Manzullo (Ill.) said: "He ought to walk away, and return to his ivy-covered office at Harvard."

Even some small and medium-sized manufacturers, the Presidents traditional supporters, members of Raimondos NAM, are expressing anguish about the export of U.S. manufacturing. And heres the Presidents economist and his would-be "manufacturing czar" cheering on the competition. I wonder how the 2,000 IBEW members at Agere Systems plants in Pennsylvania feel about that. Agere is the worlds leading manufacturer of microelectronics for the telecommunications industry. IBEW members are highly trained. But Agere, like Raimondos Behlen and hundreds of other companies, is "decommissioning" the remaining Pennsylvania plants and moving work to China, forcing our members into early retirement or unemployment.

It gets worse. In his report, Dr. Mankiw questioned the very definition of "manufacturing." He asked if a fast-food restaurant that sells hamburgers is involved in "manufacturing." Rep. John D. Dingell (D-Mich.) asked if "the 163,000 factory workers who have lost their jobs in Michigan will find it heartening to know that a world of opportunity awaits them in high growth manufacturing careers like spatula operator, napkin restocking, and lunch tray removal." But, Mankiw is still putting on the happy face, insisting that "market forces" will create new jobs.

What kind of new jobs are being created? Thirty million Americans make less than $8.70 an hour, the official US poverty level for a family of four. It is estimated that low-wage jobs will make up 30 percent of the economy by the end of the decade. There is honor in work, whether one works in a hotel or cares for our elders in a nursing home. These workers deserve to be organized and respected with decent pay and health care.

The problem is that a service economy cannot sustain a decent standard of living for our nations workers. Manufacturing is needed to sustain the tax base of communities and provide the impetus for job growth projects from railroads to utilities, new infrastructure, new technologies.

Tony Raimondo got only fifteen minutes of fame. Not to worry. He and his fellow corporate scoundrels have Dr. Minkiw and his staff of 20 working hard to help him.

Dr. Minkow is not the kind of doctor that we sue for malpractice. But we can send him the way of Tony Raimondo by defeating his "free trade" benefactors, Bush and Cheney, the first Administration in 58 years to preside over a loss of jobs. Bring it on.

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April 2004 IBEW Journal