"In what North Carolina officials are calling the largest mass job loss in state history, Pillowtex Corp. closed its 16 plants in the United States and Canada on Wednesday andterminated 6,450 workers, more than 4,000 of them in North Carolina."

The textile industry has been screaming for help. Bush has turned a deaf ear.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again, any dem serious about a "southern strategy" must make manufacturing job losses issue number one. More than geographic origin, good looks, guns, or war experience, southern voters are going to turn to a candidate who offers a plan to put people back to work.

http://www.news-record.com/news/local/rock/pillowtex31.htm

"Wait a second. Are you telling me the goal is to increase job? I thought I was shooting for the low score; you know like in minature golf." Overheard in the White House.

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

...in less than 2 hours. Did you lose your job or something?

I appreciate your concern, but no. I live in the area and consider the fact that this event represents the largest single layoff in North Carolina history important to my state, the country, and the presidential campaigns.

The thread in the LBN forum was locked because I didn't use the headline from the original article. Why it was locked in General Discussion, I don't know.

...get locked on GD. Weird. Then again I've had things get locked or moved before with no real understanding of why. Might be that two seperate Mods took care of the dupe problem, and we ended up with no thread at all.

I agree. It's a big issue here in NC. Unfortunately I don't know what the soultion is...or, more to the point, my solution isn't one that anyone is going to like.

I live in Eden, where one of the layoffs occurred.

The most embarassingly sized capitol city in the world.

Up here in the Northern Maine Woods, the unemployment rate is 30%.

Youg folks just out of high school or college are leaving in droves to find work "down south".

Maine used to lead the nation in shoe, textile and paper making, now nothing.


Remember:

As Maine goes, so goes the Nation

...is only going to continue unfortunately. The solution is to find an industry to replace those jobs. Also, unfortunately, I don't know what that industry(ies) might be.

is a "North Woods Park".

Only so many people can be employed as rangers, not the 7-8000 that used to work here.

pay with no overtime.

"Maine used to lead the nation in shoe, textile and paper making..."

Yep, and the south stole those jobs with the promise of cheap labor. For decades, labor here continued to operate under the premise that cheap labor was what was going to keep the regional economies strong. I guess they didn't count on cheaper labor.

Even now, the state's incentives for recruiting new industry are still focused on cheap labor. N.C. implemented an incentives act that would have required companies to pay above-average wages before getting state incentives. When a large employer expressed interest in coming to North Carolina, it said, "we might come to N.C. but our wages don't meet your incentives criteria."

So the legislature rolled over and weakened the wage requirements. After the company committed to coming, the legislature expressed their appreciation by eliminating the wage standard completely for this particular company.

Dems and republicans alike supported these anti-worker moves. It's one of the reasons I changed from Dem to unaffiliated.

...sometimes the companies were just plain scuttled by management for its own benefit.

I remember an incident from one of Pat Buchanan's presidential bids where he used a closed shoe factory (I believe in Maine) as a backdrop, claiming it had closed due to the dumping of Chinese-made shoes on the market at below-market value.

This was back when reporters sometimes actually checked up on claims, and at least one found out that it wasn't cheap labor and dumping that forced that factory to close, it was bankruptcy due to debt from a leveraged buy-out by the management once the company's founding-family had sold their interest. Like many companies in the 80's (and using economic policies Buchanan favored), a few wheeler-dealers took a company that may have needed some changes, but had assets and was on solid (if not spectacular) ground, put the companies deeply in debt while shuffling its assets into their own pockets, walk away from it while it goes bankrupt, and everybody wins! ...Except the former employees, who lost their jobs and probably a big chunk (or all) of their pension plan.

Kinda what Bushco and the Rethugs are doing to the entire country right now...

nt

4000 more competitors for the job I haven't been able to find for the past year.

out of NC for years, this is the latest example. I feel sorry for those folks at Pillowtex, esp those close to or with a lot vested in retirement and pensions.

The older you get the harder it is to change careers or subject matter. Not saying it can't be done, just that it's harder to get the brain shifting gears.

I haven't been able to find work either in the IT industry since last Sept. I'm really getting frustrated about it too. x( I may have to look for something totally different, but what I have no idea.

> Textile jobs have been sucking out of NC for years, ...

There's a big part of me that says, with crocodile tears, "Golly gee,
how sad! Funny how that capitalism stuff works!"

After all, I didn't hear anyone in NC complaining when the North
Carolinians stole those jobs from New Englanders (via the North
Carolinians' lack of unions, unconcern about worker protection and
workers' rights, and willingness to work for dirt), so it's hard for
me to get broken up about it when "what goes around, comes around".

Plus, they clearly voted for Bush, the fellow whose policies were
directly aimed at helping to bring them this whole passle of troubles;
what did they expect?

Atlant

You are completely correct, and I don't blame you for having little sympathy. But rather than dwell on the past (however legitimate your gripes may be), we have to consider what to do now. Yes, the counties where these layoffs are happening went for Bush (I checked), but we can leave them to twist in the wind for their misguided votes, or we can reach out and show them the way.

I live in one of these counties, and I guarantee you Bush will still win here by about 70% no matter what we do.

Check on your county here and see if they didn't go for Clinton in '92 or '96. Maybe there is hope.

http://www.uselectionatlas.org/USPRESIDENT/frametextj.html

in 92, 96, and 2000, but Wake went repub in 2000. Seems the repubs here liked * better than Sr.

I still say the right Dem candidate can pull a 54-46 or so split.

the best they can sometimes with what they have got to work with. There are families to feed down there, and they can't move somewhere in the united states and find their lost job. Let us humans stick together eh?

You're too kind.

My grandfather lost three of the fingers on his left hand working in a factory, and evey where I've ever worked there have been at least a couple of people with missing digits.

Working class people did not steal shit from anyone. If they had the power to "steal" a job it sure as hell wouldn't be a freaking cotton mill job. If I had that power it would be a job as a taster in a pie factory. The people who brought the jobs down here are the same assholes who are now taking them overseas.

This crabs in a bucket-crap-puke propaganda is disgusting to me, yet the disadvantaged fall for it every freaking time. Men, it's women that are taking your jobs, hate them. Whites, it's blacks that are taking your jobs, hate them. Poor Northerners, it's poor Southerners that are taking your jobs, so hate them. Not me the coporate elitist cretin who made the decision, I'm the real victim and on your side, and if it weren't for all those (insert minority here), then I would not be forced to leave you high and dry, but I am sure you understand.

Sorry, I got side-tracked (oh and did I mention NC is right to work, which means no unions) what I meant to say is I'm in Charlotte and have seen the story running and I was amazed they kept playing the statement from the union that said "the responsibility for this lies squarely in Washington, D.C, with this president and this congress." This is pretty damn near unheard of, to hear ANY criticism of Bush on the LOCAL news, but they are playing the hell out of this one. It gives me hope that the tide is turning.

As the Democratic party we should not be like the republicans and punish or be gleeful when states(Califorina)that dont vote our way have a hard time. We should be there giving our support helping these people recover.

To most white southerners RACE is the big issue and they will continue to cut off their noses
to spite their faces. Otherwise they never would have elected Ronnie and GW. The campaign code
words are very subtle but clearly understood. Besides, the majority of the people working in
textile factories are minorities and illegal immigrants ...they would be glad to get rid of both.
I am from the south and believe me I know what I am talking about. Dems have always missed
the point concerning southern politics. Only when the Dixicrats (Dems who eventually became Republicans)
were in positions of influence in the Dem party did the Dems have a chance in the south.
Clinton was more of a backlash against the preppy Bush-1 who was only given a chance on Reagan's
coattails. It was and is Clinton's embrace of blacks and other minorities that made he so hated
and despised over his terms. He made it to the second term because he did so much healing for
the country and the world during his first term that the apathetic left got off their duffs and voted for
him, along with some uperwardly mobile groupies and entrpeneurs. But by the time the dust had
settled, the cabal that had been after him all along had their people and money in place to ravish
his final days in office and it has been brutal politics ever since. The south has still not matured...NAFTA
was just another layer of icing on the cake. Most people don't really understand that NAFTA could
have worked had not the corporate giants decided that excessive profit was much more important
than true patriotism. Until people learn who really owns and controls these industries (a lot are not
even US citizens or they hold dual citizenships around the world) America will for ever be at the mercy
of charletons of all stripes.