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The carnage continues

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Illinois

Rockford just can’t catch a break.

Workers at the Amerock Corporation in Rockford have been told they will be out of a job in 60 days.

The maker of hardware for cabinets and windows announced in February that it planned to close the factory and lay off all 450 of its factory workers, but did not give a time line for the cuts. [Snip]

Amerock’s parent company, Newell Rubbermaid, moved its headquarters from Freeport to Atlanta last year.

Outsourcing has been a main factor in the decline of industrial employment in the Rockford area. Between 1998 and 2003, the region lost 11,800 manufacturing jobs.

Amerock’s clerical services, including distribution, customer service and human resources, were expected to remain in Rockford, but the company did not say for how long.

When will it end?

posted by Rich Miller
Thursday, Oct 28, 04 @ 2:12 pm

Comments

It will end when Illinois can compete with the Southwestern U.S. More jobs are going to the south and west from the east and midwest than anywhere. If Illinois wants to keep jobs, it needs to be competitive.

Comment by Greg Thursday, Oct 28, 04 @ 3:02 pm
Amen…just like with the convention business.

Employees want security. No such thing.

Comment by Anonymous Thursday, Oct 28, 04 @ 3:12 pm
When will it end?

Never.

Don’t you think the Germans are asking that question about why their BMW’s are being built in the US now?

How about the Japanese and how many jobs they have outsourced to the US in auto manufacturing?

The left doesn’t complain about insourcing of jobs, does it?

Comment by Doug Miller Thursday, Oct 28, 04 @ 6:44 pm
I am probably just naive but I always thought that both the Germans and the Japanese auto manufacturers outsourced assembly jobs to the US in order to market their vehicles better.

As the spouse of a grandchild of a Pearl Harbor survivor, I can attest that a great many older Americans seem to possess a profound hatred of vehicles associated with those countries. The automakers defense was to be ‘our vehicles are made in the USA’.

Of course I guess outsourcing just comes down to more profit either way you have it or the company.

Comment by Anonymous Friday, Oct 29, 04 @ 9:06 am