2,500 jobs affected in Philip Morris closure

[SaveAmerica]

http://www.wcnc.com/localbusiness/localbusiness/stories/wcnc-062607-jmn-altria_plant-no_tc.1d08c562.html

(2,500 jobs and $5 million in taxes to the city every year)

CONCORD, N.C. -- The parent company of cigarette-maker Philip Morris announced Tuesday it will close its Cabarrus County factory by 2010.

The 2.4-million square foot plant is the County’s third largest employer with about 2,500 workers.

Only Northeast Medical Center and the Cabarrus County Schools employ more people.

“This was a surprise,” said Concord City Manager Brian Hiatt, adding that Philip Morris had invested more than $100 million in the factory in the last three years.

“It’s almost impossible to replace an employer that large,” Hiatt said. “They just don’t come about any more.”

[DS1]

1. It's a good start

sorry, tobacco workers, but sometimes progress means certain industries disappear.

[SaveAmerica]

3. This is what my family I discussed last night, who didn't see this

happening as less and less people smoked every year? We have backey farmers in NC losing money as less people smoke and this company has a factory. Why won't people use what they have, recycle it? They should have been planning ahead. Aren't some of those Phillip Morris people supposed to have business majors?

[stirlingsliver]

11. Please Don't Blame The Laid-Off Workers!

Please don't blame the laid-off workers for what has happened to them.

Sure, they should have planned ahead.

BUT -- Phillip Morris OWES them re-training, and placement into other available jobs.

And, the government of the state where this closure is happening ought to provide every single benefit (including re-training, medical care, and unemployment comp) needed by the workers.

[SaveAmerica]

14. I'm talking about the people making decisions at Phillip Morris!

*I'm* not surprised that tobacco sales are declining, why didn't they plan for it and do something that would have benefited more than them? (Cause they love money)

[stirlingsliver]

17. Don't Let The Government Off The Hook Here, Either

Don't let the government off the hook here, either.

The Government has to have known that somethink like this was coming.

I want to see every single worker -- and his/her family, too -- affected by this callous decision to close a plant taken care of.

[porphyrian]

2. And their stock just shot up, so the stockholders are happy. - n/t

[SaveAmerica]

4. I believe the CEO is #32 in top earners

[porphyrian]

5. He's got his own island in hell. - n/t

[BlooInBloo]

8. And the business news will be: Market up; economy stronger. Two Americas.

[porphyrian]

16. You got it. - n/t

[DS1]

18. That's THE part that sickens me the most

Stockholders. Ugh. It's okay to enjoy the benefits of playing the market, but when a company decides to fire people and the stock jumps up, that's just sickening.

[porphyrian]

19. Companies fire large numbers of people BECAUSE the stocks jump up.

Yes, it's despicable.

[DS1]

20. Then THOSE managers bail out, and name their pals as the successors

and they agree to come in only with a hefty package regardless of performance. Rinse, repeat.

[porphyrian]

22. I'm not against fair capitalism, but we need to redefine the corporation...

...and either make them responsible/accountable for their actions and effect on our country or remove their "personhood" entirely.

[DS1]

25. The irony is that without corruption, the continental railroad would have been never built

Syriana touched on this. There needs to be an allowed level of corruption in anything major, otherwise the money just won't be there. However, there should be a limit to said corruption, otherwise it turns into what we have now.

[porphyrian]

26. I don't know that corruption is necessary, just the freedom to be creative.

Greedy corrupt people are just predictably easy to manipulate, not to mention usually swimming in cash.

When corporations were initially created, they were only supposed to handle a specific task, such as the building of a bridge, then be dissolved. Over time, that built-in safeguard was removed, allowing them to continue growing and making money for money's sake, unchecked. Like cancer.

However, there's no reason money can't be made responsibly without squelching creativity and the ability to accomplish tasks.

[DS1]

27. The railroad project was built and only survived on corruption

to a manageable extent. There were kickbacks everywhere, and no I don't have a link, this was part of my reconstruction history lessons.

[porphyrian]

28. Oh, I don't doubt that, just that it wouldn't have been finished otherwise...

...or led to some other great development. Zappa and the Mothers of Invention, or something like that.

[hang a left]

6. nt

[JDPriestly]

7. This is good news for the health of Americans and bad news for the employees.

I'm very sorry for the people losing their jobs, but I cannot support the tobacco industry. Tobacco is a deadly drug.

[GrumpyGreg]

10. I feel the same way about alcohol . I wish all the breweries would

close also.

[SaveAmerica]

13. They have a factory, farmers have land they aren't making money

off of, we need alternative fuel sources. Where's Willie Nelson?

[Clark2008]

34. So is high fructose corn syrup.

In fact, it's more deadly than tobacco. Have you seen our diabetic rate in this country?

When are we going to stop using that? I'd rather see restaurants fined for having that in their food and let the business owner decide if his/her restaurant is smoking or non-smoking, to be honest.

[JDPriestly]

35. I do not disagree with you.

I personally eat a lot of fruit, but try to stay away from the potent form of fructose corn syrup -- almost impossible to avoid getting too much of it. The worst thing about sugar is that it is in everything we buy to eat -- horrible for our health.

[libnnc]

9. there has to be some other use for tobacco

After all these years why can't we find some other use for that plant?

[RB TexLa]

31. Because we already have a good use for it?

[libnnc]

36. It's damn fine for killing folks

It killed my dad at 44.

Damn fine indeed.

[supernova]

12. That is a hugh complex

COncord used to be a a company mill town. Not anymore. I don't know what's left besides the hospital.

[SaveAmerica]

15. The article says the hospital and schools are biggest employers

[DS1]

30. It's HUGH!

[supernova]

33. LOL!

I really did do that. :silly:

[devilgrrl]

21. Awesome - Chinese cigarettes!!!!

If you thought tobacco was bad for you now - wait until tomorrow! :o

[Marrah_G]

23. If they made hemp legal those people could keep their jobs

[Elwood P Dowd]

24. The total job loss could reach over 5,000.

We're never told how many support and spin-off jobs are lost in the community when these factories close. In most cases it's equal to the factory jobs lost. With automobile factories, it's 2-3 times the factory jobs lost. We're also never told that between 40% and 60% of the unemployed workers will either never find another job or be forced to take a lower paying job with fewer benefits. We're also never told about the increased costs to local, state, and federal government for benefits such as unemployment payments, medicaid, food stamps, and others. It's vicious cycle that is destroying this country.

[DS1]

29. A Union would help, but ONLY

when the corporatist bastards quit giving themselves enormous salaries for doing absolutely nothing. How many times have the airlines changed hands, and still shown zero profit, yet rewarded the people they hired with hundreds of millions of dollars after showing no result? How many times have the auto unions almost gone bankrupt, and said "okay, you have cut our pensions down as long as the company makes a profit" only to have the company NOT make a profit, but the same executive team walks away with hundreds of millions of dollars.

How long are we going to put up with corporation heads paying themselves hundreds of millions of dollars because they can outsource labor to China, and Chinese SHIT poisons us who can't afford fresh, local food.

How long are we going to put up with shitty tech support, from our Singapore-built Apple iPhones, which require us to sign up for services that fuck us over and lock us into shit contracts, just because the turtle-necked master of fucking people over Steve Jobs says it's cool?


I WANT A CANDIDATE THAT ASKS THESE QUESTIONS, AND DEMANDS ANSWERS! I WANT A CANDIDATE WHO SAYS (in more a diplomatic sense) FUCK YOU to the corporate execs who are earning 7 digit salaries and have nothing to show for it. I want a candidate who says FUCK YOU to the HMOs who screw people over in order to turn a massive profit. I want a candidate who says FUCK YOU to car manufacturers who say fuel mileage will cut on sales, while promoting their gas guzzlers. FUCK YOU Congressmen and Auto Industry fucks who lobbied against anything real. 70 MPG AVG in city and highway, by 2010. It's not that fucking hard. The only thing stopping you is Exxon. Fuck you Exxon. Fuck you and your fucking fuck executives. Fuck you harder up your ass than anything fucked before. YOU are the problem. Fuck you.

[SoCalDem]

32. How long?

until we force TERM LIMITS.

The perpetual legislator system we have now ENSURES deep pocketed corporations their permanent "place at the table" because the legislators NEED cash desperately to stay in office, so they "dance with the one that brung 'em".

If legislators knew that they were termlimited..with NO pension..that they were truly SERVING, perhaps we would start attracting MORE intelligent people with REAL ideas..and who wanted to SERVE ..instead of who saw the congressional coronation as a way to secure their family wealth for generations to come