Easley urges Bush to aid North Carolina textile industry

The News & Observer ^ | Tuesday, August 5, 2003 | The Associated Press

[Willie Green]

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use.

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) - In the aftermath of the Pillowtex bankruptcy and the largest mass layoff in state history, Gov. Mike Easley appealed Tuesday to President Bush for aid for the state's struggling textile industry.

"This is just the latest bad news stemming from the impact of federal trade policies on our manufacturing industry," Easley wrote in a letter to Bush that was announced in a news release. "Since 1994, our textile and apparel industry has lost 138,300 jobs and our manufacturing industry as a whole has lost 200,000 jobs."

Easley's letter was sent as an e-mail to Bush, with a video message attached from 10 former Pillowtex employees.

"I heard their stories when I visited the plant in May," Easley wrote the president, referring to a visit to Pillowtex's Kannapolis headquarters, "and I wanted you to have the same opportunity to hear directly from them on this important issue."

Easley has criticized a recent U.S. trade deal that will allow Vietnam to export 14 million dozen articles of knitwear into the United States each year. In a release, he said he also wants more aggressive efforts to stem dumping of textile goods on the U.S. market and to fight illegal smuggling and customs fraud.

Pillowtex declared bankruptcy last week for the second time in three years and said it plans to close all its facilities and liquidate its assets.

Some 6,450 workers lost their jobs immediately. An additional 1,200 will eventually be laid off after the company winds down business operations.

Pillowtex employed about 4,800 workers in North Carolina, with 4,300 in Rowan and Cabarrus counties.

[RightOnGOP]

I'm sure our Governor-in-absentia will be calling on someone else to help those people over in Kannapolis. What a piece-of-work he is!

Didn't a North Carolina Commerce Department travel/trade junket, at the request of Tax-Hike Mike, travel to FRANCE earlier this year, seeking economic development? Maybe a better-placed visit INSIDE THE STATE to Cabarrus County would have benefitted NC workers more!

[Prospero]

Gray Easley is, indeed, a piece of work. His blame and credit shifting is without shame or conscience. More than a man, he's a way of life that needs purging. NC State government has drifted from reason-for-being functions to self-continuity functions.

It's symbolized by his habits taken up by his successor as AG Roy Cooper. Shamelessly pushing the national do not call list as if he and his Establishment DemoRats actually invited it.

What a pant load these cats are!