America s Biggest Companies Continue To Move Factories Offshore And Eliminate Thousands of American Jobs
Here are some of the filings:
Flextronics Americas in Stafford, Texas, will lay off 147 workers because their jobs "are being transferred to Juarez, Mexico," writes Chrystal Broussard Johnson, a Workforce Account Executive at a TAA "One-Stop Operator/Partner."
Jabil of Tempe, Ariz., will lay off more than 500 workers making printed circuit boards and box-build assemblies for the medical, industrial and aerospace sectors. "We are in the process of moving several assemblies to other Jabil facilities in Mexico and Asia in order to reduce labor costs and meet our customers' pricing expectations," writes Jabil HR Manager Dawn Tabelak in a July 15 TAA petition.
Joy Global of Franklin, Penn., will lay off 245 workers making underground mining equipment because production is "being shifted to a foreign location, outsourcing increased imports, articles and services," writes Timothy Buck, a union official in York, Penn.
Phillips Lighting Company's Bath, N.Y., factory making finished lamps will lay off 265 workers because "production is being shifted to a foreign country," writes Amy Heysham, Director of Human Resources for Phillips.
Hewlett Packard will lay off 500 employees working in customer service and technical support in Conway, Ark., due to "global restructuring," according to Mazen Alkhamis, Business Solutions Analyst for the state of Arkansas in Little Rock.
DAK Americas of Leland, N.C., is laying off 340 full-time workers and 264 contract workers because it closed its entire production facility at its Cape Fear site due to dumped imports of competing products, according to Stephen Seals, DAK Americas' Senior Director of Human Resources. "Imports of PET resins have continued to rise in quantity over the last several years, especially from China and Oman," writes Seals. "The low price of these imports as well as the increasing volume continues to have a negative impact in the U.S. marketplace. For DAK Americas' Cape Fear site, it is the price suppression that these low-priced imports has brought with them that has been the most damaging. The continuing decline in prices has forced DAK Americas to rationalize capacity." Shutting down the Cape Fear PET resins manufacturing plant "would not be the outcome if the increasing volume of low-priced imports had not driven the manufacturing economics for this site beyond a state that cannot be maintained and be viable.
"DAK continues to participate in trade actions against these low-priced imports. There are three major trade cases for antidumping actions for Certain Polyester Staple Fiber products against Korea (A-580-839), Taiwan (A-583-833) and China (A-570-905) that remain active with trade actions aimed at controlling the dumping of fibers from these countries, yet the flow of imports continues to affect our business and the marketplace. As a result of continuing imports of those dumped products, DAK will be closing fiber manufacturing at the Cape Fear site. A significant portion of the Polyester Stable Fiber produced on-site will now be transferred and be manufactured in Queretaro, Mexico. . . Even with the renewed anti-dumping trade case affirmative actions against Korea, free-trade agreements with Korea were put in place that bolster the ability for these imports to continue. If imports were not given increased access to the U.S. marketplace for the products produced at DAK Americas Cape Fear site, the site would not be forced to rationalize capacity and shut down its operations resulting in the loss of approximately 600 jobs at the site."
Eli Lilly will lose nearly 1,000 sales representatives nationwide "as a result of the loss of patent protection from two of its best-selling drugs: Cymbalta and Evista," writes Susan Fracasso, Rapid Response Coordinator for the state of Connecticut in Wethersfield. "Those two products will be made generically, likely by facilities outside of the United States.
Charles Inc. of Council Bluffs, Iowa, will lay off 60 furniture workers. The reason: "Since mid-1990s, many upholstered furniture companies have been importing completely upholstered furniture, cut & sewn kits and raw materials from China, Mexico, Vietnam and other Southeast Asia countries," according to Lindsay Anderson, TAA Coordinator for the state of Iowa. "This has resulted in Charles Inc.'s inability to compete with them and be able to meet their prices. Charles Inc. has tried many different approaches, but the labor and material saving on imported products was too much for Charles Inc. to overcome."
PDM Bridge based in Proctor, Minn., will lay off 35 workers because the company is "losing local contract product bids in the last year to multinational and overseas buyers and producers of like and similar bridge products," according to Debra Schlekewy, TAA Coordinator for the state of Minnesota.
Honeywell Process Solutions, manufacturer of electronic industrial control units in York, Penn., will lay off 110 workers. "Company filed WARN stating closure in the first quarter of 2014 with layoffs expected to begin in August 2013," writes Terri Zimmerman of the Pennsylvania state government. "Per company official most of the work is transferring to Mexico."
Nordex USA Inc., maker of wind blades in both Jonesboro, Ark., and Chicago, Ill., will lay off 80 workers because production is "being sifted to a foreign country," according to Francene Miller of the Arkansas state government.
