It's a dark day for the economy here in Cabarrus County.
The parent of the Philip Morris cigarette companies (Altria) said Tuesday it will close a Concord manufacturing plant that employs 2,500 people off U.S. 29 as it moves cigarette production for non-U.S. markets to Europe.Philip Morris contributes an estimated $200 million to the N.C. economy each year through its payroll and benefits in Cabarrus County.
Besides the huge loss in jobs I'm guessing this will also mean a big blow to the County budget since the Phillip Morris plant brought in a huge amount of taxes.
The company said it expects cost savings of about $335 million by 2011.
Louis C. Camilleri has been CEO of Altria Group for 5 years and makes $37 million a year.
He ranks #32 on this years list of most highly compensated executives.
I'm pretty sure he won't sleep any worse tonight.
No job is safe anymore and that is exactly how big business likes it. They want that added pressure to drive wages down and have us depend on cheap imports made with slave and child labor. They value offshoring since it helps lower the bottom line. Shareholders support it since it increase the value of their portfolios. Altria shares rose 50 cents to $69.25 in premarket trading.
Meanwhile, every county in our area is outbidding each other with incentives to attract the few businesses that still bring in a few jobs. And after the incentives run out they can start looking for another place where they get even bigger incentives. I'm not totally against offering business incentives but right now there doesn't seem to be and end to how far counties are willing to outbid each other. I'm hoping we can put a national cap on how high incentives can go and level the playing field that way.
At the same time we have the guy that's supposed to represent us, republican congressman Robin Hayes, stand idly by and vote for one free trade agreement after another (nafta, cafta, ...) to make it easier for companies to send our jobs elsewhere.
Fortunately, he's the one guy the people of Cabarrus County themselves will outsource in 2008 and bring in a real representative instead.
Update 6 pm:
Apparently Mr. Hayes can't read.North Carolina Congressman Robin Hayes is calling today's announcement that AltriaGroup is closing its Concord plant "a punch in the stomach."
Hayes issued a statement saying the tobacco industry has been under attack for years from groups that try to bankrupt it in court and governments that try to hit it with higher excise taxes. He says interest groups who have led the fight against tobacco never talk about the workers who make their living in the industry.
He's trying to blame anti-smoking groups in the US for the closing of this plant. Too bad the statement from Altria says that they want to close the plant to move cigarette production for non-U.S. markets to Europe. The cigarettes they make there aren't meant for US consumption. So nice try dumb ass.
Furthermore, Last year, Philip Morris USA alone made $4.6 billion in profits. Not exactly bankrupt now is it?
Maybe Mr. Hayes might be trying to come up with an excuse so he can hide the fact that he has consistently voted for Free(read shipping off jobs) trade agreements?
5 comments:
I don't know about that. The press release I read did say that there was a 2% decrease in smoking each year. It also said that only 20% of the cigarettes made in Cabarrus County are for international export. They also paid over 11 million a year in property taxes to Cab County and Concord.
And as for wages, these are UNION jobs. Average wage is 29 bucks per hour. if they wanted to drive down wages they would shut down the Richmond plant and move them down here. Virginia has better union protection laws than NC's right to work/at will laws.
Worldwide the market for cigarettes is booming. Cigarette use in nations with low or midrange incomes has been increasing for more than 30 years. At the same time, a general reduction of smoking among men in high-income countries has occurred. The other side of the statistical coin is that, as a group, women and teenagers are smoking more than they used to.
The only reason to move these jobs to some eastern European country is because the wages are lower there and they can make a few more billions in profit on top of the billions Altria already has made.
Its the result of total unbridled and raw capitalism without any checks and balances at all. Just like Mr. Hayes and his corporate donors like it.
And no, I'm not a commie!
155 billion cigarettes were produced at the PMUSA plant in Concord last year. 57 billion cigarettes from the Concord and Richmond plant (no numbers on just the Concord plant) went overseas. Those are factual numbers, not some numbers I pulled out of my rear or off the cover of the local rag.
The closure is being blamed on not only the re-sourcing of those cigarettes, but the decline in smoking across the nation, not the world. You have to remember, Philip Morris is based in Switzerland, and they have Eurpean plants that make cigarettes for the worldwide market. The plants here, discounting that 57 billion cigarettes, make cigarettes for the United States. And, only certain (dying) brands.
I just don't get what the pointing fingers at Hayes is going to do at this point. I didn't vote for him. I voted for the other guy, and will do it again and again until we get the trust-fund baby out of office. But taking issue with the closure of the Philip Morris closure, and pointing fingers to Hayes for making money from it, is just ridiculous.
There was a release from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee yesterday that is the one that tries to point fingers at Robin Hayes for owning stock in Philip Morris and actually turning a buck on Tuesday. I bet 70 percent of the representatives across the state own stock in Altria and turned a buck.
There are MUCH easier ways to go after Hayes. He's an easy target. I just don't see the closure of the PMUSA plant in Concord as a way to do that.
First of all, I'm not the DCCC and i agree with you that not just Hayes made money off of this.
It is just very ironic that the guy who said that AltriaGroup closing its Concord plant feels like "a punch in the stomach." made a bunch of money off of it. Sounds more like a slap in the stomach with a bag of cash to me.
(“Robin Hayes and his family made between $32,000 and $141,000 in a single day off of his constituents’ misfortune,” said Kyra Jennings, Regional Press Secretary for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.)
"There are MUCH easier ways to go after Hayes. He's an easy target."
I totally agree. This is just one more nail in his coffin.
For a reply to your other arguments see my newer post on the Philip Morris closure.
Too bad the corporate fascists have been co-opting the term, "Free Trade",for years. True free trade is the voluntary exchange of goods and/or services between consenting individuals. Both sides benefit without the use of force or fraud.
Robin Hayes is a corporate fascist. He would not know a free market if it bit him on his wide bum!
Keep poking Mr. Hayes. It was good to meet your in Harrisburg.
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