Caterpillar relocating to N. Little Rock (jobs!) (North Little Rock, Pine Bluff: for sale, real estate market)

[RogMar]

Originally Posted by Probender

Cat announced this morning they are laying off 25,000 employees. While you all get your 10 dollar an hour jobs thousand are losing jobs paying three times that much.
I bet you all feel great.

My point exactly, mi amigo.

Having been raised in central, I am way familiar with the operations in Decatur and Pekin.

I listened to friends that worked there talk about contract negotiations, and if you're familiar with it, you've gotta admit they killed the goose that layed the golden egg.

I watched ADM negotiations closely, and they were brutal. ADM gave nothing they didn't want to, A.E. Staley just locked the gates and hired non-union, and Cat gave away the store.

I am not any happier than the majority about an employer the size of Cat pulling out, but this is a different storm we are weathering, and even spending 140 million for the build out, Cat's going to sustain by moving here.

[Stormcrow73]

Originally Posted by Probender

Cat announced this morning they are laying off 25,000 employees. While you all get your 10 dollar an hour jobs thousand are losing jobs paying three times that much.
I bet you all feel great.

Cat appears commited to keep manufacturing their product in the US instead of offshoring these jobs and furthering the decline of our great country. At least that much, I applaud wholeheartedly.

[Probender]

I grew up in Central Illinois and live here now. I'm very familar with Decatur and Peoria and all the surrounding areas. I have friends working at Decatur Cat now. Also friends in Pontiac and Chillicothe. Also a relative working in Joliet who just got the ax.
I also lived in Arkansas 17 years. I love the state. I still root for the Hogs.
Arkansas is paying Cat over 50 million dollars to relocate there. Good honest hard working tax payers are paying Cat for low paying jobs for 600 people. THe state of Illinois is bankrupt, thanks to all our Chicago Democrats and I'm sure that has something to do with Cat leaving the state. Rats leaving a sinking ship they know can't help them.
I don't believe Arkansas is winning this in the long run. How long will it take the state to recoop the 53 million in taxes? THis is just fueling the poverty in the state. Bringing more people into the clutches of a ruthless company that will use them then discard them like people do their machines. Very much like Tyson Foods.
Arkansas is just a step for Cat on their way to Mexico.

[grmasterb]

Originally Posted by Probender

Arkansas is just a step for Cat on their way to Mexico.

Yep.

[Clay Lady]

Originally Posted by Probender

I grew up in Central Illinois and live here now. I'm very familar with Decatur and Peoria and all the surrounding areas. I have friends working at Decatur Cat now. Also friends in Pontiac and Chillicothe. Also a relative working in Joliet who just got the ax.
I also lived in Arkansas 17 years. I love the state. I still root for the Hogs.
Arkansas is paying Cat over 50 million dollars to relocate there. Good honest hard working tax payers are paying Cat for low paying jobs for 600 people. THe state of Illinois is bankrupt, thanks to all our Chicago Democrats and I'm sure that has something to do with Cat leaving the state. Rats leaving a sinking ship they know can't help them.
I don't believe Arkansas is winning this in the long run. How long will it take the state to recoop the 53 million in taxes? THis is just fueling the poverty in the state. Bringing more people into the clutches of a ruthless company that will use them then discard them like people do their machines. Very much like Tyson Foods.
Arkansas is just a step for Cat on their way to Mexico.

Is this correct? I thought I just saw something about Arkansas running low on unemployment money? I have just been in several towns in the state and was saddened by the sight of numerous closed businesses. 600 jobs paying about $10 an hour? Is this correct? Who can afford to work for ten dollars an hour? Will the benefits be really great?

[northbound74]

Originally Posted by Probender

Arkansas is just a step for Cat on their way to Mexico.

That seems to be the trend. Enjoy it while it's there.
Some businesses stick around for a while, but some just use it as a transitional phase before heading to South America.
By the way, $10 an hour isn't half bad for Arkansas. Up until the last three years I was there, I didn't make more than $8. That was in the 90's, but still... For those who wonder how one lives off that, two phrases come to mind: junk cars and trailer houses. I've lived with both.

[marmac]

Offsetting the good news (for Arkansas) that Little Rock would be gaining 600 jobs was the bad news on KSTP Minneapoilis TV last night that the Target Distribution Center in Little Rock would be closing and Little Rock would lose 500 jobs.

[Stormcrow73]

Originally Posted by marmac

Offsetting the good news (for Arkansas) that Little Rock would be gaining 600 jobs was the bad news on KSTP Minneapoilis TV last night that the Target Distribution Center in Little Rock would be closing and Little Rock would lose 500 jobs.

Yep...the parking lot there looked a little thin already. At least Target is offering relocations or a 30 day severance so I heard.

[hindsight2020]

Exactly. I never understand the gap in logic when people applaud other people losing livable wage jobs just to have another regional sector gain underemployment in the form of many crappier jobs. All, like the other poster said, still subsidized by the same said region so as to make it a losing proposition when you tally up the numbers. No wonder schools are failing, the median doesn't even understand basic "logic criterion". If A does not equal B then C......

Underemployment is the poison that's killing our quality of life, 100% employability is useless when everybody is still broke after payday. Wake up Southern States, there's no free lunch. Cost of living is not a FIXED cost, it's tied to wages. Even if you give a ton of people less paying jobs for the losing region, the gaining region inflates its cost of living, leaving you no better off than you were before. The southern states are chasing its tail and do in effect facilitate the corporations transition to Mexico and abroad. Cat moving to AR is not good news at all, I'm afraid.

[northbound74]

Originally Posted by hindsight2020

Exactly. I never understand the gap in logic when people applaud other people losing livable wage jobs just to have another regional sector gain underemployment in the form of many crappier jobs. All, like the other poster said, still subsidized by the same said region so as to make it a losing proposition when you tally up the numbers. No wonder schools are failing, the median doesn't even understand basic "logic criterion". If A does not equal B then C......

Underemployment is the poison that's killing our quality of life, 100% employability is useless when everybody is still broke after payday. Wake up Southern States, there's no free lunch. Cost of living is not a FIXED cost, it's tied to wages. Even if you give a ton of people less paying jobs for the losing region, the gaining region inflates its cost of living, leaving you no better off than you were before. The southern states are chasing its tail and do in effect facilitate the corporations transition to Mexico and abroad. Cat moving to AR is not good news at all, I'm afraid.

Amen to all that. Cost of living in Arkansas has increased to be on par with some other states, but wages haven't been able to keep up with it.