Editorial - January 2004

Job losses prompt political action

Published January 21, 2004

You get a true picture of the plight of our manufacturing industry when you see local plant officials conducting voter registration drives. It’s happening right here. For the past several weeks, plants in our area have promoted voter registration among their employees as a way to protect jobs by putting the spotlight on candidates. The officials promoting this idea are not endorsing any particular candidate, but they are educating workers on the importance of voting and how it affects jobs. A voter registration day will be held Feb. 10 for workers at ten local industries.

 Office seekers should be advised that their positions on issues that are perceived to be responsible for the massive layoffs and shutdowns will receive special attention from these workers.

Jerry Deese, vice president at Mohican Mills and one of the main organizers of the effort, said workers will become educated on what the candidates for public office are doing about job protection.

“We want them to look at which ones would most help our job losses and give them the opportunity to sign up to vote,” he said.

That makes sense.

Textile employment nationwide fell by a staggering ten percent in 2003, the second worst annual performance for the industry in the last half century. Overall, more than one out of every four textile jobs that existed in the United States just 36 months ago has disappeared, according to the American Textile Association.

It’s not just textiles, but furniture manufacturers and other labor-intensive industries that are being hit by foreign competition. Lincoln County got its latest hit last week when Haworth, Inc.-Comforto Operations, a maker of office furniture, announced it will close down its Lincolnton plant where 161 workers are employed.

There are different views on the meaning of these devastating job losses. Some say overall plant production in the U.S. economy remains about the same, but it takes fewer workers to get the job done because of more productive operations.

Some will say the era of labor-intensive manufacturing is over for American workers, and that many of those jobs are gone forever to countries whose poorer populations will do the work more cheaply. They say it’s time to retrain for the high-tech industries that will eventually dominate the workplace.

But there is a perception, widespread and firmly held in the hearts of many in our region, that elected officials have turned a deaf ear to the plight of manufacturers who were once the mainstay employers for entire communities.

Deese and other local manufacturers say the polls might be the best place to address that problem.

We say, good luck.

© 2001 Lincoln Times-News  

Terms and Conditions