Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Common Interests Levis closes last US mfg plants.

i dont find all of this too suprising

i'm sure the employees were unionized... costing the company thousands if not millions of dollars a year which most companies would gladly pay to employees, spend on salaries, workplace upgrades, new technology, more efficiency.

instead commie pricks force industrial america to choose.. no profits or offshore production.

Levi is a publicly held company iirc, shareholder value is always #1.

Funny thing, those companies who move their manufacturing abroad for dirt cheap labor, don't drop the prices of their goods to reflect reduced production costs!.....
The Levi saga is a sad commentary on the mega-greed of American businesses. Modest profits aren't enough, they must be huge.
Just read also that Ford will be equipping F-150s with Hanhook tires (because thet're cheap)!
What next?
Looks like we will all be working in mall stores, selling eachother shoes, clothes or body lotion!
Just keep in mind , boys next time you go out and buy those Kumhos, Toyos or whatever foreign made, your job is next to go!

I've been living and breathing IT for a little over a decade now (started when I was 16) and to have a chance at a decent IT job today, you've GOT to bring some serious experience and skills to the table or you are pretty much relegated to the "fodder" column. I've worked with mom and pop shops up to the absolute largest IT users in the world (EDS, Wal-Mart, Boeing, etc.) and the story is the same; 10 years ago if you could do basic systems admin work on an OS or two, you had a good chance at a career path that could take you places and allow you to branch out. Today, you better be a cross-platform PRO with strong networking and storage backgrounds AND some application skills before you can be considered a front-runner for a halfway decent (IMHO) job and that's even on the entry side of some companies...

Why? The beginnings of market saturation with these skills. Add to this the ongoing and climing trend of offshore "outsourcing" and anyone that is just starting in this field has one hell of a battle in front of them.

I saw a LOT of friends with good GPA's and some work experience and decent skills for their age just get slaughtered out in the market when things started tightening up; in reality, it hasn't got much better at all with this outsourcing move.

Even though I don't like the concept, I understand why it's being done by companies. The short-term, myopic view of most publicly-traded and some privately-held businesses is to CONSTANTLY find way to cut costs to make up for the loss of margin that products/services see over time due to competition or obsolesence, or just simply to stay in sync with their competitors. What isn't understood is that a certain skill base at home is being totally gutted and will only further reduce the long-term competitiveness of US workers if this trend continues. Certain things you simply can't teach in college and MUST come from entry-level work; without a foundation that can only be built through doing grunt-work on an OS, coding programs, troubleshooting systems, setting up networks, building basic web sites, etc., you simply can't keep a competitive and able workforce. I've digressed from the manufacturing topic and am speaking strictly about the IT industry now.

To get back on topic, there's still something to be said for having a STRONG manufacturing base at home, to the US will figure this out only when China and other foreign countries literally have that global economic cornerstone almost monopolized. Tariffs on foreign goods/services coming into the US isn't much of an answer anymore (we just get them slapped back on us); to be quite honest, I don't know what is, apart from the innovation that seems to always spark here in the US and become the "next big thing" that drives economies into yet another cycle of frenzied output and dispersement to other regions of the globe...

No offense, and while I sympathize with those losing jobs and hanging onto jobs for deal life, but this is business. What skills did those workers making $21,000 to $25,000 a year plus benefits have that made them so much more valuable than the workers available for a fraction of that in various parts of the world?

While that amount would be barely scraping by for a couple, much less a family, the task they are performing isn't worth that kind of money in the international job market. That's why the production shifts overseas.

The days of expecting a paternalistic employer to look after you for life are history. Make yourself valuable to the company you work for, and to the market as a whole. Make it so your position is essential to the functioning of the organization. Tout what you do, and make sure people are aware of it. Make the job want you as much as you want the job.

What's stopping my job from being eliminated? Nothing if the powers really want to do it. However, they have seen the position adds real value to the operation and that our knowledge is an asset they are not willing to throw away at this time. One member is being allowed to telecommute after the office space closes because they want him around.

There are many skilled professions begging for employees, and with training, can produce good income.

Face it, America is not a manufacturing powerhouse anymore. What is really built here anymore? Nope, nothing electronic. Give a couple of years, and the Japanese are going to own the automotive market. Toyota has surpassed Ford and is fast overtaking GM. If the Japanese could economically build houses here, I think they would be. The U.S. is becoming a service based economy, and we had better watch that carefully, as a lot of tech support is being shipped off to India. The farm economy is becoming corporate based, and more food is imported every year. With the "American Dream" of everyone being a white collar wage earner, SOMEBODY has to do the work...and increasingly, its not being done here anymore -- or if it is, its by illegals. Frankly, I'm not sure what Americans excel at anymore...it seems like everything we invent is perfected and marketed by overseas folks.

I don't have the solution. Its definitely become a global economy, and we can't ignore it. From my standpoint, I'm going to retire in three years, party hearty, and let you young guys figure out how to fix this country!