Cross-posted from In These Times.
Photo by Mike Gay/Taunton Gazette
At a moment when the United States is struggling to revive the feeble economic recovery and maintain its eroding productive base, many prominent corporations are continuing to needlessly shut down highly profitable and productive plants.
Most gallingly for workers, some of these firms are spurning prospective buyers eager to keep the plants operating and preserve high-paying manufacturing jobs. While ignoring these potential buyers, the corporate owners are busily auctioning off valuable equipment and breaking up teams of skilled, dedicated workers.
The latest instance: Bellevue, Wash.-based aerospace firm Esterline Technologies is moving to shut down its Taunton, Mass. subsidiary Haskon, Inc., which has been producing sophisticated silicone gaskets and door-seals for all the major airplane manufacturers and the federal government for decades, and has provided good jobs in Taunton for over 80 years.
“We’ve always made money for whoever owned the operation,” says United Electrical (UE) workers Local 204 President Scott Marques.
SCRAP THE MACHINES, SCRAP THE WORKERS
“Esterline would prefer to just scrap the equipment and scrap the workers rather than allow the workers or another company to buy the machinery and
Continue reading UE Fights Defense Firm Plan to Scrap Machines and Workers
Alternet reported on the campaign being forged by the UE and supported by Jobs with Justice targeting 