How Has the Manufacturing Industry Changed?

How Has the Manufacturing Industry Changed?

U.S. workers in the manufacturing sector were first to be hit by offshoring. More than three decades ago, telecom equipment manufacturers like Western Electric were moving production offshore and big employers like GE and Westinghouse were doing the same. In fact former GE CEO Jack Welch even boasted about it in 1998: "Ideally, you'd have every plant you own on a barge." GE not only worked to offshore jobs, it pressured suppliers to move work overseas too. But we've seen some positive changes in manufacturing lately, as IUE-CWA members at Appliance Park, Ky., demonstrate.

Nearly six million factory jobs, about a third of the industry, have disappeared since 2000. Some of those moves have been encouraged by trade agreements like the pending Trans Pacific Partnership that allow employers to hire workers in nations with no worker standards, no environmental controls and no protections for citizens.

In other cases, employers claim they can't find U.S. workers who have the needed technological skills for modern manufacturing. What's odd is that these new skills aren't getting workers higher wages. In fact, the Bureau of Labor Statistics finds that the number of skilled jobs has fallen, and so have the wages.

CWA is working to provide workers with the high tech skills they need. CWA/NETT Academy, working with the Manufacturing Skills Standards Council, is helping workers develop the core skills and knowledge that manufacturers want. In southern Ohio, CWA/NETT, working with the Hamilton County Workforce Board (in Cincinnati) is making a huge difference.

CWA also is fighting back against TPP and other unfair trade deals, to stop the race to the bottom that too many U.S. companies want to pursue.

Is Manufacturing Dead in America?

IUE-CWA Local in Kentucky says 'No Way'

At Appliance Park, Ky., manufacturing jobs are coming back.

Working together, IUE-CWA and General Electric have brought back more than 1,400 new jobs, with more to come, as workers build hybrid water heaters, refrigerators and new washer/dryer units. Some of the production already had been sent overseas to China, and other work was slated to go to Mexico.

But Appliance Park's reliance on "lean manufacturing," and negotiations between IUE Local 83061 and GE helped bring good jobs back. Lean manufacturing is a new way of thinking that tackles how an entire manufacturing process operates and how workers go about problem solving. It's an all-inclusive approach that helps us build high quality products faster -- offsetting the low wages of foreign countries, said Jerry Carney, president of IUE-CWA Local 83061.

"The economy crashed in 2008, and everyone heard about the housing bubble breaking. But what goes into housing? Appliances. Many appliance manufacturers were forced to close down and lay off hundreds of workers. But we were able to weather the storm," he said.

To get the manufacture of the hybrid water heater shifted from China to Kentucky, workers voted for a two-year wage freeze and lower wage rates for new hires. A big part of the deal was that new jobs would be created in Kentucky.

Negotiations over returning work that was slated for Mexico took eight months, and even the president of Mexico put political pressure on GE to keep the product in his country. But "we got it, and we've hired hundreds more production employees to keep up with demand," Carney said.

Was it hard? Yes, Carney says. The turnaround didn't happen overnight.

But he recalls that at peak employment, there were 23,000 workers at Appliance Park. "By 2008, we were down to just 1,700. At one point we were on our way out. We were closing. But now we're back up to 3,000 workers and growing. At Appliance Park, we have a new lease on life. We can build appliances faster and better and with better quality than anywhere else in the world."

'Together We Are Much Stronger'

CWA Support Gets NYC Contract for New Flyer Bus

Thanks to some New York City CWA connections, CWAers at New Flyer's Minnesota facility have begun manufacturing 90 heavy-duty clean diesel buses for New York City.

The contract from the New York City Transit Authority and the MTA Bus Company came through because of CWA coordination. "CWA came together and we worked through it from New York to Minnesota," said John Desm, president of CWA Local 7304.

Last summer, New Flyer had reached a contract to build the 60-foot buses for New York and deliver them by the end of the year. But the city held up placing its order for the buses while the purchase underwent an independent review by the NYC Comptroller.

With the contract in limbo, the company was forced to implement reduced schedules and three-day work weeks, and as the delay dragged on, New Flyer gave notice that 114 U.S. workers would be laid off, along with 54 temporary workers and 40 Canadian auto workers.

Desm reached out to CWA District 1 Legislative Political Director Bob Master and Local 1180 President Arthur Cheliotes for help.

"We wanted to do everything possible to avoid a layoff and get the contract going," Desm said. "When I heard that the contract was signed, we all celebrated. The layoff notices were ripped up and shredded, and we started working on those buses right away," he said.

Without the help and connections of CWA District 1 and Local 1180, all would have been lost, Desm said. "I would have watched a lot of my members, basically a third of the plant, be laid off, and the likelihood of getting them back would have been very slim. Together we realized that we can accomplish so much by being open, transparent and honest. Together we are much stronger than when we clash or disagree."