Posted on 09/11/2004 3:01:29 PM PDT by Willie Green
For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use.
ONEIDA, N.Y. - Dishware maker Oneida Ltd. said Thursday it will close its remaining factory in upstate New York early next year, ending all its manufacturing of flatware because of high operating costs.
The decision will cost about 500 workers their jobs, including manufacturing and managerial positions.
Oneida said high operating costs of its last flatware factory in Sherrill, near Syracuse, caused substantial losses. Oneida plans to continue marketing the affected products by using independent suppliers.
"For the long-term viability of our company, closing the factory dramatically lowers our costs which will help return Oneida to profitability," chairman and chief executive Peter Kallet said.
About 400 jobs will remain in the Oneida area following the last factory closing, mostly at its corporate headquarters and warehouse and distribution centers. The Oneida-based company employs about 1,200 people worldwide.
The announcement came as the company reported a second quarter net loss of $48.3 million on Thursday including non-recurring charges of about $45.5 million.
The non-recurring charges, in addition to the factory closing expenses, involved inventory writedowns and other expenses related to the sale of the Encore Promotions, Inc. subsidiary.
In June, the company reached a tentative deal with its lenders on a restructuring plan and $30 million in new revolving credit to help avoid bankruptcy.
Oneida lost $99.2 million last year. As a result, the company closed or sold five factories and now buys most of its china, glassware and flatware from other companies to resell under the Oneida brand name.
If so, then socialism has some good sides. And Founding Fathers were Socialists. You guys make socialism look good!
Iraqis... you knew what I meant.
Well, my point is that a lot of people are living well. You can always see something negative. It;s the old Reagan story about horsesh*t and pony.
Actually I didn't. see post #40.
Yes, people are living well today. We who are opposed to wholesale selling off of American industry are concerned about the future. I don't see how the current trends can support 350 million people in our country as predicted that we will have around 2050.
Psst, I know, but they are another problem concerning American workers.
Does this mean that if I want to keep using the same silverware pattern that I'd better stock up? Seriously. I love my Oneida flatware!
I know. I hear on almost every thread except the ones that are NASCAR-related.
Apparently the Republican party and most Demo-rats are OK with this fact.
I wonder how long America will survive with its working class citizens reduced to minimum wage door greeters at the great-wall mart.
Matter of time I guess before they take NASCAR on too.
Hey, stop sloganeering. Don't you know it's not allowed? [chuckle]
So nobody got laid off in the 90s. There will always be layoffs.
What is the TOTAL unemployment rate --- what is the percent of people in the population who are over 18 and not working, or not working enough to provide completely for their families?
Statistics don't give the whole picture: If you are 18 and work 10 hours a week and earn $6 an hour, and your parents provide you a home and health insurance and you can pay your own way on the rest, then you would be fully employed --- but if you 30, unmarried with 4 kids from fathers who don't pay child support, work 40 hours at $5.15 an hour and the government gives you $500 a month housing subsidy, several hundred in food stamps, Medicaid, WIC, etc then you aren't fully employed.
If the government ended all welfare programs right now --- how many people could make it --- that would be a better measurement of our employment situation.
So what do you recommend?
It's a joke if you don't think we have extremely high levels of socialism --- even to keep people from being counted as unemployed when they are over 18 and not working and receiving money from the government. We've got Socialism --- tariffs have nothing to do with that. TANF, Food Stamps, WIC, housing subsidies, NAFTA displaced workers assistance, free reeducation programs provided by the taxpayers, SSDI, Social Security, Medicaid, Medicare and on and on and on --- and if those were ended, are there jobs that people could start doing to be self-reliant?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.