NAME: Ira Grupper
EMAIL: irag@iglou.com
DATE: 04/08/2007
TITLE: Pfizer, Eastman Kodak, and Chrysler
LABOR PAEANS—March 2007
by Ira Grupper
(published by FORsooth, newspaper of Louisville, Kentucky chapter of F.O.R. [Fellowship of Reconciliation] )
Pfizer, Eastman Kodak, and Chrysler
The huge factory, on whose assembly line I spent a good part of my life, is shuttered. When I retired, in 1999, the lowest paid worker, after a probationary period and acceptance into the union, earned nearly $22 per hour (raised, in the contract the following year, to $25 per hour). This, plus overtime pay, provided unskilled and semi-skilled workers a middle-class lifestyle.
Many of us owned modest homes with fruit trees in the backyard, maybe a Winnebago trailer, maybe a poodle (skilled tradespeople—electricians, “fixers,” pipefitters, etc.--earned far more). The plant was well-integrated, so a middle-class lifestyle benefited African American and white workers alike (the skilled trades were mostly white).
When I accepted the “buyout offer,” (early retirement) I represented my union on the Greater Louisville Central Labor Council. Yet, even I did not know the factory would close a couple of years later. I was one of the relatively lucky workers, even tho I had to accept a big cut in my pension in exchange for other benefits and inducements.
Then there was Lee, not his or her real name. Lee had neither the seniority to get a really good buyout, nor the age to begin drawing what she/he was eligible for—Lee will have to wait years for it.
Lee now supports a family as a supermarket bagger, earning far less than when we were on the assembly line together. There are just no jobs in Louisville, in large numbers, for Lee, or me.
I thought of Lee, and so many other co-workers, and myself, as I followed recent developments at Pfizer, Eastman Kodak, and Chrysler. Pfizer announced, in January, that it would lay off 7,800 workers and close several of its manufacturing and research-and-development facilities. It had announced, earlier, that it would cut the livelihoods of 2,200 employess. So, 10,000 workers will soon be out in the cold.
Kodak “…said it would cut 3,000 more jobs this year, on top of the 25,000 to 27,000 it had already said would be gone by the end of 2007. At that rate, Kodak will end the year with about 30,000 employees, half the number of just three years ago and a fraction of the 145,000 people it employed in 1988, when its brand was synonymous with photography.” (NYTimes 2.9.07).
As if the devastation at Pfizer and Kodak were not enough, along comes “U.S.” automaker Chrysler on Feb. 14, saying it will eliminate 13,000 jobs in North America. Its parent, DaimlerChrysler, left open the possibility of more layoffs, and maybe even getting rid of the Chrysler division entirely.
Pfizer, Chrysler and Kodak are not alone in throwing chunks of their workforces onto the unemployment lines. Their competitors have similar problems, and these competitors are also responding with job cutbacks.
Why are these companies treating their loyal employees in such a cold, vicious fashion? As regards Pfizer: “Big-selling drugs introduced by the industry in the 1990s are now losing patent protection, opening them to generic competition. At the same time the pharmaceutical companies have not been able to develop new products quickly enough pace to continue their rapid growth.” (NYTimes 1.23.07).
Pfizer workers in such far-flung places as Brooklyn, New York, Omaha, Nebraska, and Germany, Japan and France will get the ax. “The company said that in 2007 and 2008 it expected its revenues to be roughly comparable to the $48.4 billion recorded in 2006. But with the cost cuts, it said, expected earnings would increase 6 percent to 9 percent in each of those years.” Some of the drugs it manufactures are running out of patent protection, others are of questionable value, and still others are facing fierce competition.
Turning to Eastman-Kodak, the photographic film process is being replaced by digital imagery. Kodak has come out with new products, most recently a new inkjet printer. “Kodak executives insist that the new cuts do not indicate any snags in the continuing struggle to transform itself from a film-based company into a major competitor in digital imagery. And analysts, too, say the cuts are inevitable, and probably healthy.” (NYTimes 2.9.07).
Chrysler faced the same problems with product acceptance and cost-per-unit, in this case: gas guzzlers that consumers weren’t buying, rising employee healthcare premiums, and more. Yet, although Chrysler lost almost $1.5 billion last year, its DaimlerChrysler parent earned almost $7.3 billion—and this factors the Chrysler losses into the mix! It hopes to reduce its production, mostly of SUV’s, by 40,000 vehicles.
The problems of automation, new technology, competition and unscientifically planned production faced by Pfizer, Kodak and Chrysler are problems faced by all companies. But what if—what if—we could take these laid-off and soon-to-be-laid-off workers and put them to work, as President Franklin D. Roosevelt did in the 1930’s, building roads, art projects, dams, and so much more? Even better, what if we could create a system whereby there was just production for use, instead of for profit?
Until then, there will be a lot of broken human spirits, dysfunctional families and needless poverty.
Before we end, let’s give a shout-out of support to Josh Wolf, who refuses to turn over to a grand jury in San Francisco footage he took of a protest and clash between anarchists and police. When you receive this column Josh will have spent almost 200 days in prison. No other journalist, to my knowledge, has served a longer term for protecting freedom of the press.
Contact Ira Grupper: irag@iglou.com
February, 2007 Newsletter
http://www.ccds.org/newsletters/labor_paeans_feb07.html