North Carolina among hardest hit by NAFTA job loss

By Michael Steinberg

North Carolina lost nearly 32,000 jobs through the year 2000 because of effects directly attributable to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). And this trend is worsening, as the state saw more than 1,600 manufacturing job layoffs announced over a two day period in mid-May.

North Carolina in fact lost 48,800 manufacturing jobs in the last year, the most of any state, because of US trade deficits accelerated by NAFTA and other such multinational economic arrangements, as well as the recent economic slump.

A study released by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) in April reported that “NAFTA eliminated 766,030 actual and potential US jobs between 1994 and 2000.” The Economic Policy Institute is a Washington, DC-based think tank that promotes prosperity for all workers.

The EPI study found that NAFTA-caused job losses in North Carolina totaled 31,909 over that period. Only eight other states suffered more such job losses.

As in those states, and nationwide, most of the lost jobs were in the manufacturing sector. In North Carolina such losses totaled 26,694, or 84% of the total. This exceeded the national rate, where total manufacturing job loss of 544,750 was 72% of the total.

The study showed that North Carolina led the nation in NAFTA-caused textile job losses. Textile job losses in the state accounted for 38.5% of the national total, with South Carolina and Alabama distant runner-ups.

In the apparel industry North Carolina had the fourth most losses, but lost more jobs than any other state in textiles and apparel combined.

In addition, the state had the third highest number of lost jobs in lumber and wood products, and the state was likewise number 3 in furniture job losses.

On May 18 The Charlotte Observer reported 1,610 more layoffs, all in the state’s once-predominant manufacturing sector. These included 1,000 by textile maker Dyersburg Corp., 590 by Pillowtex and 575 by Cannon Mills. In 1999 the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textiles Employees won a hard fought battle to unionize Pillowtex’s Kannapolis operations.

The Observer also reported that North Carolina manufacturing jobs had declined 3.3% over the past year, and 10.4% over the past 5 years. Textile jobs in the state fell by 6.7% over the past year and nose-dived 26.4% over the past 5 years, while those in apparel dropped by 10.7% in the past year and plummeted 43.3% over the past five years..

The Raleigh News & Observer reported on May 19 that “In the past year North Carolina has lost 48,800 manufacturing jobs -- more than any other state.” And the EPI report stated that “The US manufacturing sector has already lost 759,000 jobs since April 1998.”

Why, how and who

The Economic Policy Institute study found that the NAFTA-caused US job losses were due to “the rapid growth in the net export deficit with Mexico and Canada.” The US imported $16.8 billion more goods than it exported to those countries in 1993. But by 2000 that trade deficit had nearly quadrupled to $62.8 billion, resulting in NAFTA-caused “job losses in all 50 states and the District of Colombia.”

The study also found that the hardest hit states “all have high concentrations of industries where a large number of plants have moved to Mexico.”

When their jobs moved to Mexico and other countries, displaced US workers suffered additional problems. Foremost among these was the “shifting of workers from manufacturing to other sectors, and, frequently, from good jobs to low quality, low-pay jobs.”

This in turn created “downward pressure on the wages of ‘unskilled’ workers in the US, especially those with no more than a high school degree,” who make up “72.7% of the total US workforce, and “who bear the brunt of the costs and pressures of globalization.” Displaced US workers “when they were able to find new jobs,” suffered “earnings declining by an average of over 13%.”

The net effect was “lower average wages for all US workers.”

In addition, the study stated, “the increased impact of competition and capital mobility resulting from globalization has increased the ‘threat effects’ in bargaining between employees and workers, further contributing to stagnant and falling wages in the US.”

Not US alone

Nor have most workers in Mexico and Canada fared well with NAFTA.

The EPI report found that in Mexico the manufacturing jobs are in the predominantly foreign-owned maquiladoras, which are isolated from and do not contribute much to the rest of the Mexican economy. Consequently, “the compensation and working conditions for most Mexican workers have deteriorated,” and “the share of stable, full-time jobs has shrunk.”

Meanwhile, the study reports, in Canada “per capita income actually declined for the first seven years after” NAFTA began. And, “as in Mexico and the US, Canadians saw an upward distribution of income to the richest 20% of Canadians, a decline in stable full-time employment, and the tearing of Canada’s social safety net.”

Because of these findings, the Economic Policy Institute study concluded that “Expansion of a NAFTA-style agreement -- such as the proposed Free Trade Area of the Americas -- would only worsen these problems.”

The study also warned that “If the US economy enters into a downturn or recession under these conditions, prospects for American workers will be further diminished.” The mid May announcement of 1,610 layoffs in North Carolina proves just how true that prediction is becoming, and how fast it is happening.

Source: Triangle Free Press: www.trianglefreepress.com

Local foundation funds African American “history quilt”

Asheville, North Carolina— A local foundation that provides grants for social change projects has awarded $1,000 to an African American “history quilt” project. The Dandelion Fund, based in Asheville, made the award to REEP (Revitalize, Energize, Educate, and Prepare), based in Murphy, North Carolina.

“We appreciate this grant very much,” said Roscoe Hall, a REEP leader. “We believe this is a worthwhile project that will help build self-esteem for the youth and for the whole community.”

REEP’s mission is to help young people learn about their African American heritage and culture by connecting them with the elders and leaders of the far western North Carolina community. Less than 2% of the population of Cherokee county is African American, and REEP organizers say that there are few opportunities to learn about Black history and culture.

The History Quilting Project is intended to bring youth and elders together to make a quilt to show the heritage of Blacks in far western North Carolina. REEP organizers say they expect 15-20 youth and 15 elders to participate. The youth will interview the elders about local Black history and culture, and portray what they learn on their quilting squares. REEP plans to display the quilt at the fall back-to-school festival in the African American neighborhood of Texana.

“This project is exactly the sort of effort that the Dandelion Fund was founded to support,” said Beth Trigg, a Dandelion Fund board member. “We hope that we will be able to lend assistance to organizations and projects all over western North Carolina that are helping to build more just and compassionate communities for all of us.”

The Dandelion Fund supports the work of people in grassroots, community-based organizations in western North Carolina to create positive social change. The foundation, affiliated with the Fund for Southern Communities, makes grants of up to $1,000 each month, focusing on small, grassroots efforts and creative organizing strategies. The foundation “is named for the common herb that stubbornly persists despite systematic attempts to eradicate it.”

Since its creation in October of 2000, the Dandelion Fund has awarded the following grants: $100 to the Student Labor Action Coalition at UNCA; $750 to the October 22nd Coalition to Stop Police Brutality, of Hendersonville; $700 to Earth First! of Asheville; $450 to the Asheville Prison Book Program; $500 to Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom of Asheville, in support of the “Race Wave” project; $1,000 to Just Economics for its living wage campaign; $1,000 to Asheville Global Report; $100 to the WNC Greens for a consensus workshop; $500 to Katuah MASHH for an herbal first aid project; $400 to Students of Active Resistance at Warren Wilson College; $700 to the Canary Coalition, an environmental organization based in Whittier; and $700 to Rural Southern Voice for Peace of Yancey county for a youth conflict resolution project.

The Dandelion Fund board is comprised of community activists: Brendan Conley, Clare Hanrahan, Sara Legatsky, Mickey Mahaffey, Alyx Perry, Andrew Summers, and Beth Trigg.

For more information, contact the Dandelion Fund at 828-236-1994 or www.dandelionfund.org.