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Updated:
February 26, 2002
iNews is a service provided by the IAM Communications
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Aerospace companies
moving to Mexico
Aerospace is becoming Mexico’s
next big industry, as prime contractors and suppliers cast greedy eyes
on the low-wage, unorganized work force south of the border, the Wall
Street Journal reports.
Boeing, G.E., United Technologies, Goodrich are either moving work to
Mexico or pressuring key suppliers to move work there, the Journal
noted.
“Aerospace is now our second biggest industry. Only electronics assembly
is bigger,” Mexicali’s commissioner for economic development is quoted
as saying.
“We warned that NAFTA would cost the U.S. more than just unskilled or
semi-skilled jobs, but the politicians didn’t want to hear it. Now,
we’re talking about aerospace -- the most highly skilled, best-paying
jobs in America. Once those go, what will be left of American industry?”
asked General Vice President Bob Thayer, who heads the IAM Aerospace
Department.
U.S. companies are already lobbying the Federal Aviation Administration
to ease rules on the certification of Mexican-made aircraft components,
the Journal said.
Losing world leadership in aerospace;
Does anyone see a trend here?
Anyone who doubts the aerospace industry is moving overseas should
look at figures provided by the industry’s top trade group, the
Aerospace Industry Association.
Only 30 years ago, the U.S. exported $11.06 worth of aerospace products
for every $1 we imported from overseas, AIA reports. By 1980, that
margin was slashed by more than half, with the U.S. exporting only $4.36
of products for every $1 of imports. By 1990, the U.S. advantage had
fallen even further, to only $3.31 of exports per $1 of imports.
Today, the U.S. sells only $1.96 worth of aerospace products overseas
for every $1 we import. Once that 96-cent difference disappears, the
U.S. will have lost world leadership in aerospace. Looking at the trend,
how long will that take?
Declaring
war on U.S. workers
Bush names OSHA foe chief
Labor Department lawyer
President Bush has appointed a
leading OSHA critic, Eugene Scalia, as top attorney for the U.S.
Department of Labor. Because Scalia’s nomination faced almost certain
defeat in the Senate, Bush acted during a recent holiday to make a
“recess appointment,” which does not require Senate approval.
For years, Scalia has championed efforts to weaken OSHA and block
various safety and health regulations. He played a key role last year in
defeating OSHA’s proposed “Ergonomics Standard” that would have
re-designed tools and work procedures to prevent carpal tunnel syndrome
and other injuries to worker’s muscles, bones and ligaments caused by
repetitive motion, vibration and physical strains.
“Scalia is part of the extreme fringe that doesn’t believe ergonomics
injuries are real, or that they are work-related or need to be addressed
by regulations,” said Peg Seminario, AFL-CIO Safety and Health Director.
Indeed, Scalia has dismissed research on carpal tunnel and other ergonomic
injuries (which afflict some 600,000 worker a year, according to the
Bureau of Labor Statistic ) as “quackery” and “junk science.”
Scalia, son of the Supreme Court’s most right wing justice Antonin
Scalia, has gone to court to force individual workers to pay for
protective equipment worn on the job, including gloves and expensive
respirators.
“Bush calls American workers heroes when he visits the World Trade Center
site or poses for a photo, but here he shows his true colors. Bush used
a back-door maneuver to put a sworn enemy of OSHA in charge of our
safety and health laws and every other law and regulation under the U.S.
Department of Labor. Scalia is an employers’ dream come true,” said Mike
Flynn, IAM director of safety and health.
Startling charges
from Capitol Hill Newspaper:
Enron paid DeLay staff
for secret deregulation push
Enron Corp. paid key members
of House Majority Whip Tom DeLay’s political and fundraising team
$750,000 “to secretly conduct an aggressive grassroots campaign pushing
energy deregulation” the Capitol Hill newspaper Roll Call
recently reported.
DeLay’s “inner circle” created “a coalition financially dominated by
Enron, Americans for Affordable Electricity” to launch “a national
grassroots campaign operated solely at the direction and benefit of
Enron,” according to Roll Call.
The campaign aimed to deregulate the $300 billion a-year electricity
market in all 50 states by targeting key Congressional races and by
intensive lobbying directed at Congress as well as state regulatory
commissions and legislatures.
One tactic used by Enron’s phony “coalition” consisted of “drafting
editorials and then approaching local school board members to submit
them to newspapers under their own names” to create the appearance of
public support for deregulating energy markets, Roll Call
reported.
The key operatives hired by Enron were DeLay’s former chief of staff Ed
Buckham; Karl Gallant, consultant to Delay’s political action committee
and Ed Hoy, a partner to a another political consulting firm employed by
Delay, according to Roll Call.
“DeLay personally recommended to Enron officials that they hire the team
of strategists who make up the inner circle of his political and
fundraising machine,” Roll Call wrote. Delay also personally
sponsored legislation to deregulate electricity markets nationwide and
organized a 1998 pro-deregulation “Power Summit” featuring Enron CEO
Jeffery Skilling in Houston, the story continued.
“If this story is true, Enron and Tom DeLay have conspired to twist public
opinion and to illegally pervert the processes of government to service
a corrupt and greedy corporation. The IAM calls for an immediate
investigation into these allegations and, where appropriate, prosecution
of all involved to the full extent of the law,” IP Tom Buffenbarger
said.
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