By Mickey Friedman
February 22, 2018
All power to the eye of the beholder. Ye olde glass half full or half empty.
President Trump declared in his State of the Union: “Less than one year has passed since I first stood at this podium, in this majestic chamber, to speak on behalf of the American people — and to address their concerns, their hopes, and their dreams … Each day since, we have gone forward with a clear vision and a righteous mission — to make America great again for all Americans. Over the last year, we have made incredible progress and achieved extraordinary success.”
One man’s extraordinary success, another’s … I want to focus on jobs and the difference between what is said and what is done.
The President: “Since the election, we have created 2.4 million new jobs, including 200,000 new jobs in manufacturing alone. After years of wage stagnation, we are finally seeing rising wages.
Unemployment claims have hit a 45 year low.”
Remember Carrier? According to Bloomberg, Gregory Hayes, the CEO of United Technologies Corp. which owns Carrier, defended their February 2016 decision to close its furnace factory in Indianapolis and ship production to Mexico … “This is not a decision that we took lightly,” Hayes said.
“A month later, Hayes was beside President-elect Trump at that Indianapolis factory. Workers cheered as the two announced that Hayes had agreed to keep the plant open. “You are fantastic, Greg,” Trump said.”
Wayne Dale, of the United Steelworkers says the company has repeatedly told the union the Indianapolis plant is “highly profitable.” That UTC’s Climate, Controls & Security division posted $16.9 billion in sales in 2016 and $3 billion in operating profit.
But Gregory Hayes had also told his investors: “We’ve underperformed … Whatever we need to do to increase shareholder value, we will do those things, no matter how difficult.”
Trump promised to keep jobs in the U.S. How did he do? On January 10, 2018, AP reported: “A new round of layoffs is taking effect this week at the Carrier Corp. factory in Indianapolis a little more than a year after President Donald Trump touted a deal that staved off the plant’s closure … About 215 people are being let go starting Thursday, leaving about 1,100 workers at the plant … That’s down from the some 1,600 factory, office and engineering jobs at the facility …
“Carrier’s parent company, Connecticut-based United Technologies, is also closing a control panel factory in the northeastern Indiana town of Huntington. The last of the plant’s roughly 700 production workers are expected to be laid off this year, with that work also going to Mexico.”
AP noted: “The latest Carrier job cuts follow the final closing in November of a 350-worker Rexnord Corp. industrial bearings factory in Indianapolis. Milwaukee-based Rexnord didn’t change its decision to shift much of the factory’s work to Mexico despite a tweet from Trump blasting Rexnord for ‘rather viciously firing’ its workers.”
How about those 2.4 million new jobs? Turns out Trump was claiming credit for 561,000 jobs added by Obama. In fact, the pace of job growth has actually slowed 12 percent during Trump’s first 11 months in office, compared with the preceding 11 months.
Half full, half empty. Marketwatch reports “since Wal-Mart Stores Inc. announced it would hand out bonuses and expand benefits to more than 1 million associates thanks to new tax reform measures, the retail giant has also laid out plans for store closures and thousands of layoffs at both the store and corporate level.” 1,000 layoffs in California: 650 associates in Sam’s Club locations in Los Angeles, Sacramento and Orange County, and 359 in Sacramento.
When President Donald Trump imposed steep tariffs on imported washing machines last week, he endangered a planned LG Electronics washing machine factory under construction in Clarksville, Tennessee.
Then there’s Harley-Davidson. Bloomberg: “The Milwaukee-based motorcycle maker will close its factory in Kansas City, Missouri, and consolidate production in York, Pennsylvania,” eliminating about 260 U.S. jobs. “Trump praised the company last year as a ‘great example’ of a business creating jobs and building factories in the country …
“Joe Capra of Local 778 of the International Association of Machinists & Aerospace Workers, told The Kansas City Star. ‘It is real devastation for these people who work here and work hard in the Kansas City area.’”
And for those of you already working in the service industries: “The Trump administration is moving to give restaurants and other employers more control over workers’ tips …Under the new proposal … employers could use workers’ tips for essentially any purpose, as long as the workers were directly paid at least the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour.” At a time when Chipotle boss Steve Ells makes 1,522 times what his workers make.
A corporate tax cut. 700 billion for defense, when we’ve more bombs than we need. More than half empty.
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“Jobs” was first published in the February 15, 2018 issue of The Berkshire Record.
More information:
President Trump’s 2018 State of the Union address
Transcript, ABC News, Jan 30, 2018
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/transcript-president-trumps-2018-state-union-address/story?id=52727276
“Remember When Trump Said He Saved 1,100 Jobs at a Carrier Plant?”
By Bryan Gruley and Rick Clough, Bloomberg
March 29, 2017
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2017-03-29/remember-when-trump-said-he-saved-1-100-jobs-at-a-carrier-plant
“Harley-Davidson shuts plant as woes worsen for Trump’s model manufacturer
Jamie Butters, 01-31-18,
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-biz-harley-davidson-shuts-down-plant-20180130-story.html
“Wal-Mart has announced thousands of layoffs since publicizing bonuses and benefits expansion”
January 30, 2018
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/wal-mart-has-announced-thousands-of-layoffs-since-publicizing-bonuses-and-benefits-expansion-2018-01-30?
“Labor Dept. Plan Could Let the Boss Pocket the Tip”
Noam Scheiber, February. 4, 2018, The New York Times
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/04/business/economy/tips-rule.html?
“Here’s How Outrageous The Pay Gap Between CEOs And Workers Is”
Jenny Che, 08/27/2015, Huffington Post
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/ceo-worker-pay-gap_us_55ddc3c7e4b0a40aa3acd1c9