Enriching China

0 Comments | Insight on the News, June 25, 2001 | by Sheila R. Cherry

Once accepted in the program, however, participants say they were helpless as they watched state and federal officials continually cutting the funding and denying benefits. They had to go through training to apply for the program, Thompson notes. They had to surrender family budgets to the scrutiny of program administrators, "to prove that we would be able to survive on our unemployment." Despite the draconian roadblocks, the program still was overenrolled with desperate out-of-work participants.

In the program, there were restrictions. "You could not work. You couldn't even look for work" explains Thompson. The aggravation of administrators who lost paperwork was a constant hassle. Six months later, the state-funded program was canceled for lack of funding. Ultimately, Rep. Jay Inslee, D-Wash., and others in the Washington delegation were able to secure Trade Adjustment Assistance. Thompson estimates that with just a few months left to their retraining education only 230 cash-strapped members of the original group of 3,000 were able to hang in long enough to enter the federal program.

In June, as Congress begins its new debate on what to do about China trade, Thompson will be putting her trade-related unemployment ordeal behind her with a degree in business management, a certificate in international business and a 3.8 grade-point average. She earned it after her job was exported by her employer.

Ex-Boeing employee Richard Pierce is another who now counts himself lucky. He runs a Website assisting other laid-off workers who are seeking to be rehired somewhere, anywhere, by Boeing. He notes that the promised state and federal need-related funding continually ran out but credits Washington's congressional delegation for coming to the employees' rescue. He praises Locke and Inslee for securing additional Trade Adjustment Assistance funding when the National Reserve Grant failed to meet the needs of so many workers seeking to enter the retraining program.

Inslee, nevertheless, joined with his colleagues in the House last year and voted to approve PNTR 237-197. It passed the Senate 83-15. Will this year be different, ask critics of China trade, or are welfare programs really better for U.S. workers than jobs?

U.S. Layoffs Power China's Growth

(*) CEO salaries below include unrealized stock-option grants

Kodak Rochester, New York Chairman/CEO -- Daniel A.
Carp -- $2,057,500(*)

Layoffs -- 1997 -- 20,000
           1999 -- 2,500 (over 3 years)
           2001 -- 3,000-3,500 (announced)
China Investments -- Shantou facility: coats and finishes X-ray film
                     Xiamen facility: film and paper factory
                     Wuxi: photochemical plant
                     Shanghai facility: circuit boards for cameras
                     Shenzhen facility: video-imaging center
1997 -- Kodak cuts $1 billion and 20,000 jobs worldwide (20 percent of
        workforce) because of plummeting sales due to competition from
        Fuji Photo Film.
1999 -- Kodak invests $1 billion in China because of strong demand for
        film. Announces first quarter sales of $3.1 billion, a 6
        percent jump over the previous year.
2000 -- Carp tells 6,000 local Chinese employees that "Kodak has
        delivered on its commitment to the Chinese government...."

INTEL  Santa Clara, California Chairman/CEO -- Craig R.
Barett -- $176,561(*)

Layoffs -- 1998 -- 3,000
           2001 -- 5,000
China Investments -- 4 research and development centers with Microsoft
                     (China) 17 capital projects
                     Shanghai plant
1997 -- Intel cut 3,000 positions out of 65,000 through buyouts.
2001 -- Intel cuts an additional 5,000 jobs at the same time its
        Asia-Pacific operations performance exceeded the company's
        goals. Intel has put $100 million into its Shanghai plant with
        $200 million more to come.

BOEING Seattle, Washington Chairman/CEO -- Philip M.
Condit -- $35,076,700(*)

Layoffs -- 1998 -- 48,000 over 2 years, (official announcement)
           2001 -- 600 (Long Beach, Calif.), 500 jobs moved to Wichita,
                   Kan.
China Investments -- Shanghai: 737 horizontal stabilizers
                     Xian: 737 vertical fins and 747 trailing-edge ribs
                     Chengdu: 757 stabilizers, fins and tail sections
                     Shenyang: 757 cargo doors and 737 tail sections
                     Xiamen: Airplane overhaul and repair
                     Tianjin: Parts for interiors
                     Beijing: Airline center for logistics, training
                     and services
1998 -- Boeing plans to lay off 48,000 because of Asian economic
        slowdown in spite of a year 2000 20-year projection of a future
        $4 trillion market.
2001 -- There are now 3,100 Boeing aircraft flying worldwide with major
        parts made in China.

SOURCES: USNews.com, Chinaonline.com, Kodak.com, ZDNet.com, Boeing.com,
ABCNews.com, Sinofile.net, Asiaone.com, Worldofphoto.com, William M.
Mercer, Inc.