| Dave Peyton, Columnist Charleston Daily Mail
September 19, 2005
Out with the old jobs, in with the new
From hoes, rakes to biotechnology
Two stories from West Virginia last week tell more about the future of America than any pundit or seer.
First the bad news: Ames True Temper Inc., closed its Wood County plant after union members refused a contract which would have cut wages and benefits to the point workers said they could not survive.
The good news: In Huntington, two young Marshall University students announced they were starting a biotech company that might have 50 to 70 employees within five years. Or it might not.
There's no doubt that all the production at the Ames True Temper plant will be moved to another country, leaving 162 union workers without jobs in Wood Country. The union said the company's pay plan would have cut wages from $17 an hour to $6.22 an hour or $8 an hour with incentives.
One union employee told Bob Weaver of The Hur Herald in Calhoun County that the proposed new health plan called for a $5,000 deductible for individuals and a $10,000 deductible for families. The contract was unanimously rejected by the union workers.
A relative of mine used to scout Mexico for towns and cities in which to re-locate businesses from the United States. When I asked him why he didn't look in places such as West Virginia for production sites, he told me the truth.
Six dollars an hour in Mexico (including benefits) put Mexican workers in the middle or even upper-middle class. The workers in Mexico are eager to work and easily trained.
Could he find workers in America for that wage? Hardly, unless they are subsidized by the state or federal governments.
The sad tale of Ames True Temper has been repeated time and again in America, and unless things change, will continue until most low-skilled production facilities in this country have disappeared.
What does that leave us? It leaves us with people like Derek Gregg and Justin Swick, two MU students who, with the help of Marshall University and Huntington area investors, have started Vandalia Research, a biotech company that has an exclusive license agreement to commercialize a DNA production system.
That's all I know about it, but even if Gregg and Swick tried to explain it to me, I'd probably still be in a fog.
Biotech is a crapshoot, but the fact is when it comes to our future, it's one of the few games in town. If these two young men are successful, it could be the start of something big for Huntington and West Virginia.
If not, some other idea from a young savvy entrepreneur might be the spark that lights the economic fires under our faltering economy.
One thing is certain. Our future doesn't lie in making hoes and rakes. They'll be made by workers in other countries who will jump at the opportunity to get the wages and benefits the Wood County employees rejected.
The days of making a living with a "weak mind and a strong back" are over. The sooner we all realize that, the sooner we can get on saving our economy, and ultimately our way of life.
Dave Peyton can be reached at davepeyton@davepeyton.com
Read Peyton twice a week in the Charleston Daily Mail
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