U.S. Garment industry becoming extinct

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By MARYCLAIRE DALE, Associated Press PHILADELPHIA (April 24, 2001 3:22 p.m. EDT http://www.nandotimes.com) - A 63-year-old Puerto Rican woman is bent over to hand-trim gray wool for a sport coat in the second-floor factory of Pincus Brothers Inc.

A younger woman nearby, dressed in a silky green tunic from her native India, operates a machine that presses the seams. And in another part of town, two women from China sew tickets and bar codes on the suits Pincus makes for Brooks Brothers, Bill Blass and other well-known labels.

The women are among the fewer than 4,000 unionized garment industry workers left in Philadelphia, down from 26,000 during the heyday of the 1950s.

But come May 4, they too will lose their jobs. That's when second-generation owner David Pincus starts contracting out the work, most of it overseas.

"You just can't manufacture in the United States. You can, but the (buyer) says, 'This is what I will pay'," said Pincus, 74, hitting his desk for emphasis. "Nobody cares anymore where it's made."

Pincus, who makes only menswear, held out longer than most in the industry's struggle against imports and casual business wear.

The long-shrinking garment industry in the United States now has 763,000 workers, a number that is expected to drop under 600,000 over the next seven years, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

"Unfortunately, I'm doing the undertaking," said John Fox, an executive in Philadelphia with Unite, the union formed when the International Ladies Garment Workers Union merged with the Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union.

"I have a lady who came to see me yesterday, she put in 32 years at Pincus," Fox said. "She's 53 years old. She didn't become a millionaire for working these 32 years."

U.S. garment workers on average earn $318 a week, or about $8.53 an hour, according to BLS. While low compared to many other sectors, it's still enough to break a manufacturer, whose overseas competitors pay only a fraction of that wage.

The slide from casualwear on Friday to a more relaxed dress code everyday has further decimated the industry.

"We're really a nation of slobs - the men," Pincus said.

Philadelphia once boasted a stable of well-known menswear manufacturers, including Joseph Daroff, Joseph H. Cohen and Louis Goldsmith. Pincus said the city may have been the nation's biggest producer of men's tailored clothing in the 1960s.

As the tide changed, so did Pincus. The company started making fewer suits and more sport coats - in the last five years, it has become the largest U.S. maker of cashmere and camel's hair jackets. It also bought a pants factory in Mexico.

Pincus Brothers, founded in 1911, once manufactured 17,500 jackets and topcoats a week, and employed 1,200 people. Today, fewer than 400 workers make 3,500 jackets and coats in a good week.

Nathan Pincus, a 38-year-old clothing designer, is in line to inherit a very different business from the one his father has run. When the sewing machines go quiet in Philadelphia, his job will be to handle design and distribution tasks, and oversee the overseas production.

David Pincus considers himself a patron of his employees and the world. He gives generously to international relief groups, and his office is crammed with pictures of him with children in Bosnia and Rwanda, and with famous figures like Mikhail Gorbachev and author Elie Wiesel.

Now Pincus can't help the people working upstairs.

Fred Kline, a 57-year-old from Bensalem, Pa., has worked for Pincus Brothers for 38 years. He makes $13.45 an hour running a computerized cutting machine, and is angry about government trade policies he blames for sending garment industry jobs abroad.

"Even if I go to school and learn another trade, who would hire me at 58 years old, when there's young kids coming out of high school and trade school?" Kline asked.

He lives with his wife in an $800-a-month apartment that he's not sure he'll be able to keep.

"Because I lost my job at 58, my pension's going to be very small," he said. "I will have to work until the day I die."

Personal Note: But hey, we still have programming and engineering jobs, NOT - Those are being exported to India too. Anything we can do can be done cheaper somewhere else with VERY FEW exceptions.



-- Guy Daley (guydaley@altavista.com), April 24, 2001

Answers

Guy -- doesn't it make you wonder just why the morons in charge of the labor unions have almost unanimously been in favor of increasing so-called "free trade"???

Everything seems to be "for sale" (for a price) these days in the USA - and it matters not which pol. party is in control.

It's astounding that those who continue to enrich themselves, their buddies and their narrow interest fail to care about the ultimate disaster awaiting the USA as it continues to descend to the bottom of the free trade pit. Perhaps they'll all move away from the USA after it's completely hollowed out?

I live in area that's also very hard hit by textile plant closures - the Carolinas. Plants here are often the largest employer in town - & its closure brings terrible consequences to the entire town.

This nation was not built upon and never prospered on so-called "free trade". The 30 year mortgage, college tuition, life insurance and the American standard of living cannot continue on the dreadfully low wages found in third world countries. What the greedy capitalists are doing to this country is an abomination!

-- Carolinas (HitHardBy@Greed.com), April 25, 2001.


I'm not responding just to Carolinas but to anybody who reads this post. This forum is a collection of information that we need to plan for the future. From this specific article I can derive this:

1. We can't compete with cheap labor. 2. Any and all corporations are going to export there industry as soon as its practical. 3. Made in America is going to be a thing of the past except for extremely technical, complicated or too expensive to ship items. 4. Don't learn or ever consider a job in manufacturing or assembly because its just a matter of time before its exported to Mexico, China or some other ultra low labor country. 5. There will never be a shortage of cheap labor as our world population continues to explode. 6. If you want a secure career, think of employment that can't be exported. I recommend law because they have one of the most powerful lobbies in the country. The medical industry also can't be exported. 7. We will from now on, experience higher employment as more jobs get exported. 8. Only full employment will make for a strong economy. 9. American citizens will be competing with the illegal immigrants for work in the future.

-- Guy Daley (guydaley@altavista.com), April 25, 2001.


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