Kubota's Headquarters Moving from California to Texas

[ultrarunner]

I'm far from an expert on this... the one thing I keep hearing is the cost of Union Benefits... health and retirement being the big two... sometimes non-union will offer comparable wages... it's just the benefits are not offered.

Unions have almost as good as government workers when it comes to these... at least here.

I drive by the old headquarters site for Peterbilt trucks each day... it is where they started in Oakland CA... long gone and a shopping center now... as is the Ford plant in Milpitas.

 

[TexasBoy]

I sure hope they dont bring any of those left-wing thinking (& voting) people with them. Those of us born and raised here do NOT think like those blue states. Not even close.

 

[TomSeller]

I sure hope they dont bring any of those left-wing thinking (& voting) people with them. Those of us born and raised here do NOT think like those blue states. Not even close.

Too late

 

[Garandman]

I doubt they were union, I think it was mostly admin and financial folks there. I know my tractor was made in Japan....

Manufacturing has been pretty much gutted here in the US. Yeah, we have assembly plants, but they were always the lowest paying plants, and the least labor intensive. A lot of the transplants, of all industries, are still making the expensive parts, like engines and transmissions, in asia or Mexico. And lots of parts are now imported. Visteon, Ford's old part division, once had 22 US plants. Now they have 1, and 30+ somewhere else. Toyota, Nissan, etc, all have plants in Mexico or other low wage places. Manufacturing jobs are now low paying. I don't think it will ever change.

Jobs that can't be outsourced are going to do better.

U.S. manufacturing employment increased in 2013 for the first time since 1998. There are literally millions of high-tech manufacturing jobs going begging because they cannot find qualified people.

New England has a lot of high tech manufacturers and aerospace, medical equipment, and other electronics products like robots are all helping fund AMP and schools everywhere are embracing STEM.

There's starting to be a discussion about whether NAFTA and other trade treaties like it really help the US. Many feel that they have hurt US workers while enriching the "1 percenters." Thats' why some Democrats are resisting Obama's effort to fast track authority.

If Obama wins fast track, he's expected to ask Congress to approve the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership. It involves Japan, Canada and Mexico, but not China.

Liberal groups and labor unions vow to fight him, saying trade deals hurt U.S. jobs. The Finance Committee's actions Wednesday were delayed for hours because liberal Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., invoked an often-ignored Senate scheduling rule in protest. "This job-killing trade deal has been negotiated in secret," said Sanders, who made a lengthy Senate speech denouncing the legislation.

As Overseas Costs Rise, More U.S. Companies Are 'Reshoring'

 

[ultrarunner]

I sure hope they dont bring any of those left-wing thinking (& voting) people with them. Those of us born and raised here do NOT think like those blue states. Not even close.

I have to wonder with Texas being a preferred destination for my Californians?

The influx of California companies and former California residents has to have some impact.

It's only hearsay on my part... yet everyone I know that has moved to Austin says it not all that different from California and ex-Californians are everywhere... have no idea how true or not...

It is also true that about 20% of the people I work with are from Texas... born and raised... they came West mostly in the early 80's...

 

[300UGUY]

U.S. manufacturing employment increased in 2013 for the first time since 1998. There are literally millions of high-tech manufacturing jobs going begging because they cannot find qualified people.

New England has a lot of high tech manufacturers and aerospace, medical equipment, and other electronics products like robots are all helping fund AMP and schools everywhere are embracing STEM.

There's starting to be a discussion about whether NAFTA and other trade treaties like it really help the US. Many feel that they have hurt US workers while enriching the "1 percenters." Thats' why some Democrats are resisting Obama's effort to fast track authority.



As Overseas Costs Rise, More U.S. Companies Are 'Reshoring'

Yeah. I think that trend is dying out, since the dollar has got stronger, it is becoming more expensive to source things here.

I'm retired, but I have seen ads here for machining jobs, and the rates are pretty low. A lot of automotive suppliers here are double vested - they have virtually identical facilities in Mexico or elsewhere. As a neighbor, and manager at a local supplier told me " Minimum wage or Mexico" is what the thinking is. If local wages get too high, or labor gets scarce, they move work out. Globalization sucks for factory folks.

One other thing I found out about local plants - the HR folks make sure the new hires are signed up for all the available welfare programs they can qualify for. The reasoning is, that if they have that government support, they are less likely to quit and go somewhere else.

 

[300UGUY]

U.S. manufacturing employment increased in 2013 for the first time since 1998. There are literally millions of high-tech manufacturing jobs going begging because they cannot find qualified people.

New England has a lot of high tech manufacturers and aerospace, medical equipment, and other electronics products like robots are all helping fund AMP and schools everywhere are embracing STEM.

There's starting to be a discussion about whether NAFTA and other trade treaties like it really help the US. Many feel that they have hurt US workers while enriching the "1 percenters." Thats' why some Democrats are resisting Obama's effort to fast track authority.



As Overseas Costs Rise, More U.S. Companies Are 'Reshoring'

I'd say that most folks in Michigan, regardless of politics, think that NAFTA hurt us. Mexico produced more than 3 million vehicles last year, 80% exported to the US. And lots of parts!!!

The only way that manufacturing is coming back here in a big way is thru lots of government support. And even then, technology is eliminating lots of jobs anyway. IMHO, of course!!

 

[TexasBoy]

Too late

Its nowhere near too late. I would elaborate but have learned to just keep quiet on these topics online.

 

[300UGUY]

I have to wonder with Texas being a preferred destination for my Californians?

The influx of California companies and former California residents has to have some impact.

It's only hearsay on my part... yet everyone I know that has moved to Austin says it not all that different from California and ex-Californians are everywhere... have no idea how true or not...

It is also true that about 20% of the people I work with are from Texas... born and raised... they came West mostly in the early 80's...

I had friends move to Texas in the 70's, they came back in the 80's. Some went back again, some went ?

 

[300UGUY]

Its nowhere near too late. I would elaborate but have learned to just keep quiet on these topics online.

The demographics are the deciding factor. In the long run, you can't overcome that.