NAFTA hits home

[buckmasterson]

Obviously the wages in America needed adjustment. I worked for Goodyear in 75 and brought home neary 40k per year blue collar. But, in this case the land was free to build on, and the incentives and labor concessions offered to Electrolux would have saved it a total of $74.4 million annually. It wasn't enough?

These people were set up. They gave up their health care in a contract 2 years ago. They pay out of pocket for ALL doctor visits, and have 50% coverage in the Hospital. Electrolux knew they were going to do this two years ago (but wouldn't admit it), and they screwed the employees into giving up things so they wouldn't have to pay them when they head to Mexico.

File a lawsuit? They are an international company based in Sweden. The people will get nothing.

 

[mastertech01]

Originally posted by: buckmasterson
Obviously the wages in America needed adjustment. I worked for Goodyear in 75 and brought home neary 40k per year blue collar. But, in this case the land was free to build on, and the incentives and labor concessions offered to Electrolux would have saved it a total of $74.4 million annually. It wasn't enough?

These people were set up. They gave up their health care in a contract 2 years ago. They pay out of pocket for ALL doctor visits, and have 50% coverage in the Hospital. Electrolux knew they were going to do this two years ago (but wouldn't admit it), and they screwed the employees into giving up things so they wouldn't have to pay them when they head to Mexico.

File a lawsuit? They are an international company based in Sweden. The people will get nothing.

Our Goodyear plant was built on free land with many heavily reduced utility costs. After many years here they recently forced us to cough up a tax hike to refurbish their plant to build larger more modern tires or they were going to pull up roots and move to a new location. A large percentage of the town works there and it would have devastated the local economy. They hold a gun to your heads once they get rooted in and the thought of them shifting to Mexico is always on the worry list for many. SO the entire population of the city pays for the priveledge of a percentage of the citizens to have a job and to keep the money flowing in the local economy.
Our plant is also non union.

 

[Nietzscheusw]

Besides Kucinich and Nader, it seems as if no candidate proposes to take action against NAFTA and in favor of the workers.