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Stanley Works Moves 1200 New Britain Jobs to China One
glance tells you, this is a classic New England factory town. The
streets of New Britain, Connecticut are lined with block after block of
massive mills, built with brick, iron and hewn oak beams. Victorian
mansions where the factory owners once lived peer down on triple-decker
tenements and the neatly maintained, single-family houses of the working
and middle class. New
Britain was a center of American manufacturing –– a position the
“Hardware City” proudly held since 1754. The city motto says it all:
“Industry fills the hives and enjoys the honey.” But
the “honey of industry” is gone now, gone to China and Mexico. And
the mills stand silent and empty: great walls of faded brick and rows of
dusty windows stare out at a city that is dying. The
Stanley Works, founded in 1843, is New Britain's oldest and best-known
company. Stanley Hand Tools –– with products ranging from saws and
hammers to chisels and measuring tapes –– came to symbolize the
“do-it-yourself” spirit of Yankee ingenuity. Stanley’s
rugged brass hinges, doorknobs and locks were the very image of American
quality and durability. But no more. “All
the jobs at Stanley are leaving, going to China and Mexico,” explains
Donald D’Amato, president of IAM Local 1433. “My job was eliminated
November 30 –– four days after I completed my 43rd year with the
Stanley Company. “It's
not because they aren’t making money. They want to make more money,”
said D’Amato. “The CEO told us, as long as the government
allows them to go offshore and make things cheaper and make more
profits, that’s what they are going to do. “We
used to have 10,000 IAM members here in New Britain working at Stanley,
Emhart, Fafnir Bearings, New Britain Machine, Tuttle and Bailey,
Landers, Frary & Clark” said D’Amato. “It used to be if you
got laid off from one place you could go get a good-paying job somewhere
else. But nowadays, there's nowhere left to go. Most of those shops are
gone. The Hardware division, the original core of Stanley, that’s all
over in China now. That was 1,200 jobs.” “I’m
Steward for myself, now!” said Andy Trykowski, gesturing at the bare
walls and concrete floor of the former tool room. “I came here in 1993
from Fafnir Bearing, after they closed down and moved their work to
China. There were 6,000 people working at Fafnir. I was the Shop
Chairman for the Skilled Trades and I actually had to help negotiate the
closing,” he says. “What
I'll always remember is hearing that whistle blow on the Stanley boiler
house, every noon, like clockwork. It was so loud. So powerful!” said
Trykowski. “I lived a
mile away but it sounded like it was blowing right in my back yard. I
helped take down that whistle last month.”
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