Top economy & jobs stories

Once again, actual job growth last month fell short of economists' projections and was barely enough to keep up with new labor market entrants.

The Washington Post is running a series of articles about the struggles the middle class is facing as good jobs evaporate from the economy.

Jobs that provide both a middle-class wage and benefits, even for workers without advanced degrees, still exist, often in union environments. But they're getting harder to find.

The point is, ladies and gentleman, is that greed---for lack of a better word---is good.

---Gordon Gecco, in the film "Wall Street"

Danaher's President and CEO: H. Lawrence Culp, Jr.
Total Compensation for last year: $57,533,344.00
Source: Washington Post

Average hourly wage of a worker at Danaher Tool in Springfield: $14.00

More than 150 employees gathered yesterday behind closed doors here in VFW Post 425 on Front Street to discuss the closing, employees said. Inside, they compiled a list of questions for upper management that will be used as a jumping-off point for negotiations between the company and its workers, they said... Lafleche and Whitehead said many employees are confused as to how Danaher can close a plant that is currently running nonstop with three shifts per day, particularly after hiring 40 new workers less than four months ago.
"We're as busy as we've ever been, working like the dickens, and then they close the plant?" said Whitehead, noting that he worked 133 days straight earlier this year. "It doesn't make sense."

Union officials representing workers at the Danaher Tool Group in Springfield said they are looking at options for keeping the Springfield operation open.

Approximately 300 union workers at Danaher tool in Springfield are about to become the latest victims of global free trade policies that have decimated America's manufacturing base. The company is famous for making the Sear's Craftsman line of tools. The production workers are represented by two unions; the Boilermakers Local 1570, with about 30 members and IUE-CWA Local 81228, with about 250 workers.

Danaher Tool Group said in a short written statement the decision came after a review of its hand-tool business. The firm plans to consolidate its manufacturing operations at Danaher-owned plants in Texas and Arkansas.
"The savings realized as a result of this restructuring will position it (the company) to better compete in the global hand-tool business," the statement read in part.

More news and information on this story will follow as it develops.

[image:576]A local resident’s group, Holyoke Citizens for Open Government (HCOG), presented a proposal to the Board of Public Works at their meeting on 12/16/04, 5:30pm at 63 Canal St., Holyoke. The proposal is for a public-public partnership as an alternative to privatizing the Berkshire Street Wastewater Treatment Plant.

More bad news on the trade front with the Chinese trade deficit exploding like an economic mushroom cloud. Like everybody else, I wonder, "how much longer can we really continue like this?" Will the economy continue to somehow manage to sput and sputter through this disastorous news until the next economic upswing or will it just suddenly come to a devestating halt when the gas finally runs dry? Enjoy your cheap Wal-Mart DVD player while you can; soon there may not be any electricity to run it.
It sounds like Congressman Neal does indeed have good reason to worry.

Article description:

Gordon B. McLoughlin, 37, of Brockton, worked on a construction site in Burlington from August to early fall, and was classified as a subcontractor even though he was given assignments each day and did not control the conditions of his employment. McLoughlin, who was placed at the site by the carpenter's union to investigate charges of misclassification, said a supervisor told him to sign papers stating that he was independent. He earned $24.19 per hour, $10 to $15 less than union carpenters who were classified as employees.