The Courts Continue to Erode Our Jobs and Pay

Last Friday, a Federal Bankrupcy judge gave the green light to tear up it's contract with it fight attendants. It will be ineresting to see how pay and benefits are affected.

Unfriendly Trade Policy

I copied this snippet from the Kansas City Star. http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/business/15060639.htm.

Farm and labor leaders at a summit in Washington, D.C., last week called current U.S. trade policy detrimental to U.S. agriculture.

In a trade summit sponsored by the AFL-CIO and the U.S. Business and Industry Council, farm and labor industry leaders agreed that the World Trade Organization’s trade policy has created an uneven playing field for the U.S. and caused a record trade deficit. The current trade agenda has put American farms, businesses and workers in jeopardy by giving a competitive advantage to foreign producers, they said.

“Across the board, in farming, technology and manufacturing, American jobs are being outsourced,” said Tom Buis, president of the National Farmers Union.

The union maintains that currency manipulation, labor standards and environmental health and safety standards must be equal worldwide for domestic producers to compete fairly on the global market.

A Senator Steps UP

When research a news bit I heard about Ford laying off 22,000 more US based hourly employees, I came across an article in the Detroit News that I caught my eye. It lead me to a press release by Senator Stabenow (D-Mich). Here's the text from the release-

WASHINGTON -- A federal commission advising Congress on economic policies with China will hear a U.S. senator Monday who will argue the United States can no longer "ignore the fact that China is cheating" in committing unfair trade practices.

The six-year-old U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission will meet at the University of Michigan-Dearborn and will hear testimony from United Auto Workers President Ron Gettelfinger, U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow and U.S. Reps. John Dingell, D-Dearborn; Sander Levin, D-Southfield; and Thad McCotter, R-Livonia. Also testifying will be Leo Gerard, president of the United Steelworkers union.

The hearing, "China's Impact on the U.S. Auto and Auto Parts Industries," comes as Ford Motor Co., General Motors Corp. and Delphi Corp. are in the midst of cutting 80,000 jobs.

Automakers are encouraging parts suppliers to consider outsourcing to countries like China that have far lower labor costs, though they also criticize China for artificially keeping the value of its currency low.

"American companies are held hostage by China's requirements and then, receive no recourse when trade laws are violated," Stabenow will testify, according to an advance text of her remarks obtained by The News. "It means jobs are at risk, not because of competition, but because China is cheating the system. China is stealing patents, producing counterfeit products, and manipulating currency markets. These actions are illegal, period."

Stabenow casts the fight as a struggle to defend good-paying jobs. It's the latest in a series of events, largely by Democrats who argue the Bush administration isn't doing enough to insist on fair trade with China. Michigan Republicans in Congress have pushed the administration to take a tougher line with China.

"As a country and as the state of Michigan, we all should be fighting for these jobs. This is our middle class and this fight is about maintaining our way of life," according to Stabenow's text. Last year, the U.S. trade deficit with China hit an all-time high of $202 billion, 25 percent higher than 2004.

The Michigan Manufacturing Technology Council has estimated that the competitive advantage a $10 million manufacturing plant in China has over a comparable plant in the United States would largely be erased by a 30 percent currency revaluation by the Chinese.

The Bush administration has taken some action.

On March 30 the administration and the European Union filed a complaint with the World Trade Organization over China's "unfair" treatment of U.S. auto parts.

China's taxes on imported auto parts discourage automobile manufacturers in China from using imported auto parts in the assembly of vehicles, the United States said. China has regulations that impose a tax on imported auto parts equal to the tariff on complete automobiles.The Big Three CEOs have made what they call currency manipulation by China and Japan a top issue, saying it is an unfair trade practice.

The countries devalue their currencies, making U.S. products more expensive there and Chinese exports cheaper, they argue.

Its time that more of our elected officals step up and face what's really happening and quit pandering to big business. Write your congressman today!

A Senator Steps Up

When research a news bit I heard about Ford laying off 22,000 more US based hourly employees, I came across an article in the Detroit News that I caught my eye. It lead me to a press release by Senator Stabenow (D-Mich). Here's the text from the release-

WASHINGTON -- A federal commission advising Congress on economic policies with China will hear a U.S. senator Monday who will argue the United States can no longer "ignore the fact that China is cheating" in committing unfair trade practices.

The six-year-old U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission will meet at the University of Michigan-Dearborn and will hear testimony from United Auto Workers President Ron Gettelfinger, U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow and U.S. Reps. John Dingell, D-Dearborn; Sander Levin, D-Southfield; and Thad McCotter, R-Livonia. Also testifying will be Leo Gerard, president of the United Steelworkers union.

The hearing, "China's Impact on the U.S. Auto and Auto Parts Industries," comes as Ford Motor Co., General Motors Corp. and Delphi Corp. are in the midst of cutting 80,000 jobs.

Automakers are encouraging parts suppliers to consider outsourcing to countries like China that have far lower labor costs, though they also criticize China for artificially keeping the value of its currency low.

"American companies are held hostage by China's requirements and then, receive no recourse when trade laws are violated," Stabenow will testify, according to an advance text of her remarks obtained by The News. "It means jobs are at risk, not because of competition, but because China is cheating the system. China is stealing patents, producing counterfeit products, and manipulating currency markets. These actions are illegal, period."

Stabenow casts the fight as a struggle to defend good-paying jobs. It's the latest in a series of events, largely by Democrats who argue the Bush administration isn't doing enough to insist on fair trade with China. Michigan Republicans in Congress have pushed the administration to take a tougher line with China.

"As a country and as the state of Michigan, we all should be fighting for these jobs. This is our middle class and this fight is about maintaining our way of life," according to Stabenow's text. Last year, the U.S. trade deficit with China hit an all-time high of $202 billion, 25 percent higher than 2004.

The Michigan Manufacturing Technology Council has estimated that the competitive advantage a $10 million manufacturing plant in China has over a comparable plant in the United States would largely be erased by a 30 percent currency revaluation by the Chinese.

The Bush administration has taken some action.

On March 30 the administration and the European Union filed a complaint with the World Trade Organization over China's "unfair" treatment of U.S. auto parts.

China's taxes on imported auto parts discourage automobile manufacturers in China from using imported auto parts in the assembly of vehicles, the United States said. China has regulations that impose a tax on imported auto parts equal to the tariff on complete automobiles.The Big Three CEOs have made what they call currency manipulation by China and Japan a top issue, saying it is an unfair trade practice.

The countries devalue their currencies, making U.S. products more expensive there and Chinese exports cheaper, they argue.

Its time that more of our elected officals step up and face what's really happening and quit pandering to big business. Write your congressman today!

IndiaInfoIT

If you want a good chuckle, just jump here to see the propaganda blog about offshoring. They show studies about how offshoring is good and India isn't responsible for job losses in the US, its task automation that is the main culprit. If you read down the menu they then list how they are predicted to pick up 79,000 legal jobs by 2015. Which is it task automation or the offshoring of our jobs for cheap labor?

Just as a side note, tragically, this weeks bombing of the train stations leaves one to wonder if the dispute with Pakistan over Kashmir will lead to further unrest in the area. What will the Multi-nationals do then?

Labor Rates in China

Back to the Bureau of Labor Statistics again, in a reseach paper filed by Judith Bannister of Bejing Javelin Investment Consulting Company the real hour labor rates were investigated. In the report she cites the difficuty in obtaining consistant and accurate data across the provences. It's reported that the fully burdened average hourly wage in China is $0.57. Bear in mind this is for an employee that is forced to work 14 to 16 hours a day in often times unhealthy conditions, six to seven days a week, live in employer provided apartments for which they a high percentage of their take home, purchase inadequate meals provided by the employer. These condtions have eeb discussed in previous posts. These same employers rarely let the workers take time off even for marriage or bereavement. So even though they may make $0.57 an hour what is the effective net pay of the average employee?

Is this free trade or free labor for our US multinational firms?

You can view the report here.

A Great Site

While researching today I came across this site. It does a great job of discussing the issues.

American Economic Alert

Please take the time to check it out.

Labor Statistics

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports for June show an increase of 121,000 in June. Service sector jobs and mining (interesting in light of all the minig accidents lately) showed upward trends. The unemployment rate for June remained unchanged at 4.6%.

There is a spot of good news (cut and pasted from the June report);

In the goods-producing sector, manufacturing employment edged up in June(+15,000), following a small decline in May. Over the month, employment wasup in transportation equipment, machinery, and electrical equipment and appliances.

Mining employment grew by 6,000 in June. The industry has added 114,000 jobs since its most recent low in April 2003, largely reflecting gains insuport activities for oil and gas. In June, construction employment was essentially unchanged for the fourth consecutive month.

Dumping

My son arrived in Tokyo today, besides missing him and wondering what's he doing, it sparked memories of how we first feared the Japanese taking our auto manufacturing from us, then our TVs. Japan still has our cars, Toyota may well be the largest car manufacturer in the world by years end, but it lost much of its electronic business to China. Does Japan fear what China can do to its jobs like we do here at home?

Last night on Lou Dobbs, Kitty Pilgrim filled in as the achor and covered a very interesting story about China dumping agricultural products in the US and our government is nearly powerless to stop it. It seems that our recourse is to fine the company doing the dumping, but before pour government can collect, the company goes out of business and reopens under a different name.

Here's a quote from the show--

PILGRIM: Tonight, this nation's failed trade policies are jeopardizing the future of U.S. farmers. Washington is refusing to uphold trade laws and collect anti-dumping duties against communist China, and Congress is standing by as China dumps cheap agricultural products on the American marketplace.

CASEY WIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Bill Rhodes is a central Florida honey producer. Since 2003, he's seen American honey prices plunge from $1.50 a pound to less than 80 cents today. He blames a flood of even cheaper Chinese honey and the failure of the U.S. government to collect anti-dumping duties owed by honey importers.

BILL RHODES, HONEY PRODUCER: We are getting killed, not only people in the bee industry, but any other form of agriculture that has to compete with cheap labor.

WIAN: Rhodes' employees earn $9 to $12 an hour. Fuel costs are also squeezing him. But China is the biggest problem. China paid just over $1 million in anti-dumping penalties to U.S. honey producers in 2005. But the Customs Department failed to collect nearly $10 million owed by Chinese importers. They often exploit a loophole in U.S. law allowing importers to delay paying anti-dumping duties for years. When Customs come to collect, the importers are out of business, operating under another name.

MICHAEL COURSEY, TRADE ATTORNEY: This is fraud on a scale that Customs was totally unprepared to meet. The Chinese, who are engaging in this type of activity, are exploiting weaknesses in U.S. law.

WIAN: Other American agricultural products, including garlic, canned mushrooms, apple juice concentrate, and crawfish, are also impacted. In fact, for every dollar Customs collected in the anti- dumping duties on those five products since 2003, it has failed to collect $15. Critics say Congress, not Customs, is to blame for failing to require importers to post a cash deposit to cover anti- dumping duties.

Is this what our government terms as free trade? Free for the Chinese maybe! Free to do what ever it wants to harm our economy. Free trade maybe, but certainly not fair trade. How many more jobs do we have to lose before our representatives, senators and other elected officials wake up and taste the bitter taste of honey dumped on our shores?

The Real Effect of Lost Manufacturing Jobs

A Chicago Tribune article today discussed a woman who is living in extreme poverty. Here's the link Chicago_Tribune.

Some interesting paragraphs in the article are worth quoting here:

Illinois also leads the region in a grim subset of that category: the group of nearly 724,000 residents, including Sirko and her children, trapped in what experts call "deep poverty."

Specifically, deep poverty means a family of four is living on $9,675 or less per year. For the past year, Sirko's income--donations from friends and family, plus a few hundred dollars made through treasure hunting--has been about $3,000, not including food stamps and the recent arrival of welfare.

Such dire straits often get overshadowed amid the million-dollar homes and upscale malls of Chicago's five collar counties, though poverty is increasing there too, with nearly 200,000 people counted as poor, according to 2003 Census figures. The state's surge in poverty, as documented in the bipartisan Heartland Alliance's 2006 Report on Illinois Poverty, can be traced to a combination of factors: the loss of more than 225,000 manufacturing jobs in the last 15 years, soaring housing costs and cuts in social services due to the state budget crisis of the past several years.

It's worth your time to read this as the woman featured in the article lost her good paying job when her job left Illinois. The article quotes some very interesting statistics.

Independence Day

On this Independence Day Weekend, it is hoped that our politicians take the time to reflect what true independence means, free from undue influence by lobbyists whether it is business or the over influence of religions. Freedom from trade imbalance and budget deficits to return our great nation to its once high status in the world opinion. Most importantly return to fair trade policies not free trade policy.

It's time for our elected officials to remember why they were sent to Washington--- to represent the people who sent them there.

On a separate note may we all remember the men and women who are will to pay the ultimate sacrifice in the service of this great nation!