Washington's loss is Ohio's gain..Kenworth (Renton, WA is moving to Ohio)

[SoCalDem]

My son works for a steel fabricating company in Kent, and the boss told them the other day, that Kenworth is leaving Renton...

He didn;t know where in Ohio they were relocating, but that should make for some good news for some Buckeyes..

[MadMaddie]

1. The trucking manufacturer right...

Yea, that was in the area where I live. It is a loss here but as you say it is a gain there.

[SoCalDem]

2. yes.. He also said that Boeing notified their company

that they were cancelling some big project they had been in negotiations about..for 2010..but I forgot what he said it was:)

[SoCalDem]

3. found a link.. It's Chillicothe, Ohio

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/387874_kenworthcuts15.html

[aquart]

4. Why?

[Hannah Bell]

5. Lots of unemployed in ohio willing to work cheap.

the usual.

time for the seattle area to feel the pain. they were getting too big for their serf britches.

[Dan]

6. not an attack, but

a question: Are you implying that we should support the wage-race to the bottom? I have always supported any worker that gets a raise, even if I don't. I figure life is tough enough without deploring someone's Else's success.

Seattle/Kent/Washington state employees aren't too big for their britches - they're just like everyone else - just trying to make a living. Wishing pain on Washington state workers doesn't help Ohio... my thoughts.

on edit: I don't want Ohio workers - working cheap, I want them making a decent livable wage.

[Hannah Bell]

7. No. I didn't think I needed the sarcasm tag.

The game should be clear after 100+ years.

Shut down here, open up there. Shut down there, open up here. Run at a "loss" here to finance new investment there.

Labor arbitage. The big corps don't compete with each other; they collude with each other to hold down wages.

[aquart]

8. Ohio is the new China?

[Hannah Bell]

9. It may come to be.

[Rage for Order]

10. Or, just maybe...

The company wanted to be closer to the steel foundries that supply the raw materials to make their product, thereby reducing the expense of getting the materials needed to make their products. In addition, Ohio is a much more centralized location than Renton (Seattle), so it will be less expensive to transport the finished product to all areas of the country. In addition, the Seattle area isn't known for its manufacturing base, aside from Boeing (who recently moved their corporate HQ to Chicago). They don't call the Pacific NW the Silicon Forest for nothing. There are plenty of steel workers, machinists, line workers familiar with vehicle assembly, and other related skilled labor in the Rust Belt. Not so in Seattle.

[Hannah Bell]

11. Steel is produced in mini-mills in Washington state.

I know of one in Seattle, one in Kalama, & I'm sure there are others. It was billed as the "new, more efficient, cheaper" wave of the future when US Steel went under.

Washington does 80 billion/yr in manufacturing (2002).

There are plenty of people in Washington "familiar with" the work - since it's been here for years, & is moving from here. Duh. Kenworth is a division of PACCAR since 1945. PACCAR was founded in Seattle 1905, it was Pacific Car & Foundry in the 60s when I went to Renton HS, just around the corner from their plant on Lake Washington - which had already been there for eons.

I guess they didn't know about all the steel in ohio, & the central location.

[Hannah Bell]

12. The biggest differences between Ohio & Washington: Ohio has more

unemployed, their mfg workers work for lower average wages, & their real estate is cheaper.