GE cuts Erie workforce, shifts to new TX plant (Pittsburgh: 2013, how much)

[pman]

GE cuts 950 jobs at 100-year-old Erie train plant, shifting work to Texas | TribLIVE
the doomsayers were right, the job gains in erie were eliminated.
[quote]In all, the GE facility could employ 875 by 2016 - with most employees at the factory earning from $18 to $23.50 per hour. Those are competitive wages in the Texas market, a GE official said, although according to a union official the rate is about $10 an hour less than what's being paid for the same work at GE's locomotive plant in Pennsylvania...And workers in the northern state are worried that GE Transportation will shift work to the non-union plant in Texas and lay off workers in Pennsylvania...GE officials also have said their Fort Worth facility is an expansion project, and not an attempt to move jobs from Erie.
Read more here: GE still hiring workers at new plant in north Fort Worth | News | News from Fort Worth, ...
i wouldn't think erie would be more expensive to live in and I wonder what the difference in take home pay is after union dues. and I wonder how much of the decision is wage related and how much is state tax related. thoughts? I suppose if you are union then you can ill afford a big tax premium to boot

[trackstar13]

pman

This is an interesting situation and I think it is definitely a combination of issues, including the following:

1) The recent move of the GE transportation headquarters, essentially making the Erie plant just another factory.
2) The age of the facility in Erie and the use of space vs. the Fort Worth facility.
3) The lack of a community/technical college in Erie county to educate lower level workers.
4) Wages are an issue, but I think they are not as big of an issue as the aforementioned points.
5) The state tax environment for PA is not overly conducive to business, but this is not really a big issue for a company the size of GE because of the available write offs and deductions.

Overall, this is bad for Erie, but I am not overly surprised and Erie will have to work hard to manage the loss of these quality jobs.

[Ohiogirl81]

Bad for Erie ... And if GE were to follow through and close the plant it would be disastrous for Lawrence Park and the Iroquois school district.



The best case scenario is that the job loss is part of a cycle, as they have been in the past, but I wouldn't be surprised if that weren't the case.



Lies, lies lies ... What do you expect from a company that celebrated the 100th anniversary of the opening of the plant by moving the transportation headquarters to Chicago and opening a new plant in Texas making the exact same products?

[exploringoptions]

Originally Posted by track2514

pman

This is an interesting situation and I think it is definitely a combination of issues, including the following:

1) The recent move of the GE transportation headquarters, essentially making the Erie plant just another factory.
2) The age of the facility in Erie and the use of space vs. the Fort Worth facility.
3) The lack of a community/technical college in Erie county to educate lower level workers.
4) Wages are an issue, but I think they are not as big of an issue as the aforementioned points.
5) The state tax environment for PA is not overly conducive to business, but this is not really a big issue for a company the size of GE because of the available write offs and deductions.

Overall, this is bad for Erie, but I am not overly surprised and Erie will have to work hard to manage the loss of these quality jobs.

Re: #3 (what I bolded) - when I left Erie over 5 years ago, this was in discussion...I assume that nothing ever came of it? That's too bad. I believe that the Erie area is one of the few (only?) PA metros with no real community college, only for-profit schools like Triangle Tech.

[Hopes]

At least manufacturing will stay in the states instead of being sent overseas.

[Hopes]

Originally Posted by exploringoptions

Re: #3 (what I bolded) - when I left Erie over 5 years ago, this was in discussion...I assume that nothing ever came of it? That's too bad. I believe that the Erie area is one of the few (only?) PA metros with no real community college, only for-profit schools like Triangle Tech.

I'm shocked that Erie doesn't have a community college! Heck, even Butler County has a community college.

I thought community colleges were the norm in PA. I guess we're so spoiled in Pittsburgh.

[Hopes]

Here's a map of the community college locations in Pennsylvania.

http://pacommunitycolleges.org/our-c...llege-map.html

[Ohiogirl81]

Originally Posted by Hopes

At least manufacturing will stay in the states instead of being sent overseas.

That must be a great comfort to those 900 some people losing their jobs, and to the entire community.

Not to mention that GE also has a locomotive plant in Mexico that, at some point, will get some new work.

[trackstar13]

Originally Posted by exploringoptions

Re: #3 (what I bolded) - when I left Erie over 5 years ago, this was in discussion...I assume that nothing ever came of it? That's too bad. I believe that the Erie area is one of the few (only?) PA metros with no real community college, only for-profit schools like Triangle Tech.

Yeah not having a community college is a big deal and it is interesting to note that there is a community college pretty close to the new GE Plant in Fort Worth. I really hope Erie county starts to realize how important this issue is and funds a community college in the near future. This needs to happen even if GE leaves for good and it appears that Erie is one of the most populated areas in the state without a community college.

[Clint.]

Originally Posted by Hopes

Here's a map of the community college locations in Pennsylvania.

Advance the Interests of Pennsylvania

I used to live in Erie, and remember that some politicians raised the idea from time to time. County Executive Mark DiVechio was a strong proponent: DiVecchio to visit community college | GoErie.com/Erie Times-News. I don't recall a significant amount of popular support; the culture of the region really revealed itself on that one. Letters to the editor about wasteful spending of tax dollars and that sort of thing. Interestingly, just a couple weeks ago the Erie Times News published an editorial about it: Our View: Is Erie community college dead? | GoErie.com/Erie Times-News

I'm surprised Erie was able to hold on to GE for as long as it did. For decades now businesses have fled to locales where they can exploit cheap labor, whether China, Mexico, Texas, or really anywhere in the Southern US. It's good for the workers in those places that have historically been so poor and are easy to exploit and thus make good wage slaves who don't seem to care they're not getting a fair deal based on corporate earnings from their labor, but difficult for workers here who do quality work and are shut out.