"Going without to keep firms going; Fretful workers adjust to furloughs" by Erin Ailworth, Globe Staff | May 12, 2009
GREENFIELD - The factory's machines are silent, its workers at home, anxiously waiting.
Three weeks ago, all but five of the 80 employees at the more than century-old metal-cutting plant on Sanderson Street were placed on unpaid furlough, tentatively for six weeks. They realize the business of making tools to create screw threads is shrinking as manufacturing in the United States declines, but never before has the company, Kennametal Inc., taken such drastic action.
"You don't want it to fall apart on your watch," said Lorin Bradshaw, 54,who has worked at the plant for more than three decades. Bradshaw said he is unhappy about being furloughed but "it keeps [the company] from laying a lot of people off."
Businesses and government agencies nationwide are increasingly using unpaid leaves to cut costs and ride out the recession, according to Paul Shafer, a principal at the human resources company Hewitt Associates, based in Illinois. A Hewitt survey of 518 US companies last month found nearly 70 percent have implemented or are considering furloughs. "It really is considered an important technique to save some jobs," Shafer said.
Okay, that is the way the Globe is spinning it -- as if the "furlough" is a good thing.
Now, being a person that LIVES OUT HERE, I can tell you that the LOCAL PEOPLE and PAPER are MUCH LESS SANGUINE than the cheery-eyed Globe. They have pretty much WRITTEN OFF the JOBS and FACTORY, and I tend to agree with them.
While manufacturers have traditionally used unpaid time off to adjust payrolls for seasonal declines in product demand, the practice has become widespread because of the slumping economy, according to Peter Doeringer, a professor of economics at Boston University....
Employers who resort to furloughs must balance the need to save money with the importance of maintaining employee morale and loyalty, said Fred Foulkes, a professor of organizational behavior at Boston University. For their part, employees have to decide how long they can afford to get by on reduced incomes before moving on. "I think you tolerate more in the current environment than you would in a stronger economy," Foulkes said.
Sometimes I wonder if that ain't the point.
In the case of Kennametal, executives decided to shutter the plant for six weeks "dependent on business conditions."
And it's going to stayed shuttered (keep reading).
Workers stopped getting paid on April 20. Most have been to a local career office to apply for unemployment, sign up for resume-writing classes, and figure out their next steps.
"Hopefully, in six weeks, I go back to work," said Jim Flynn, 42, who has worked more than half his life at the factory in this town about 100 miles west of Boston. He is spending his time off caring for his two young daughters while his wife works, looking into college courses, and playing an occasional round of golf. If the plant doesn't reopen soon, Flynn said, he might go to school to train for a new career, "then find another job in town."
Like where?!
And look at how the Globe portrays us out here -- the POOREST COUNTY in the state! As if we are living it up, no problems!!!
Yeah, I AM TIRED of the ELITE INSULTS!
But prepping for that possibility only takes up so many hours in days once filled with making screw-thread tools, at an average of $20 an hour. Unemployment pays Flynn and other furloughed employees about half that.
They won't be finding that pay anywhere -- if they can find work at all.
"My first thought was how are we going making the truck payment and the house payment?" Debra Coates said, recalling her reaction when her husband, Shawn, a longtime factory employee, told her about the furlough. "We've cut back on some of the luxury stuff like filling up the house with soda and cookies."
Yeah, that's what we pig out on around here! Pffft!
We got some of the bestest, most fertilist soil for farmin' you'd ever wanna see!!!!
Can't wait until the farm stands open (if it would only warm up and be less damp)!
Even though it has become smaller over time, the brick factory, known by some as Plant No. 2, is still closely tied to Greenfield's identity, said town historian Peter S. Miller. It was once part of Greenfield Tap and Die, a metal-cutting operation formed from the consolidation of other shops in 1912. At its peak during World War II, the company was Greenfield's dominant employer, with almost 4,000 workers.
Losing the plant, Miller said, would not only mean fewer jobs but also the end of a historic chapter in the town of about 18,000, which has been associated with the metal-parts industry since 1872. "There's nothing going to replace it," he said.
Makes me sad.
Greenfield Mayor Chris Forgey said she is concerned but optimistic about the factory's future, especially since Kennametal is furloughing workers rather than laying them off and shutting the plant down.
That's why she lost a run-off to a write-in candidate!
"I think everybody is holding their breath right now," Forgey said. "When the furlough was issued, it was for an indeterminate amount of time. And that poses the question in people's minds, 'Will it come back?' "
Everyone knows it's not!
Kennametal employee Jim Kopec, 55, also wonders - and worries - about the future. "If we get recalled, how stable is it?" said Kopec, who has worked at the Greenfield factory for about 14 years.
Some Kennametal employees have been attending weekly support meetings set up by their union chapter to help them cope with being in an economic limbo. "It's a networking place so we can get together if we have any problems," Mike Letourneau, 55, said at a recent meeting, during which participants chatted about unemployment filings and the poor global economy.
Marie McIntyre, a workplace psychologist in Atlanta, said such sessions are crucial.
"Work fulfills a lot of needs for people besides just money," she said. "You haven't just lost your paycheck. You've lost your sense of accomplishment, your relationships with other people, and for some people, your sense of purpose in the world. And so you need to try to replace some of those things."
That's how I ended up HERE!
And please don't define me by what YOU consider WORK!
Many employees say they have never even contemplated life without the Sanderson Street factory - until now. "I expected to work another 15 years," Gary Wood, 54, a longtime employee. "We've worked all our lives," co-worker Kopec added. "You can't just do nothing."
Yup, DAT'S DE WAYS WE'S TALKS OUT HERES 'cuz we's so 'tucking 'too-pid!!!!
That's why you get the writing style and commentary here, folks. It's rebellion against my state-school liars and taskmasters and the elitist insulters of AmeriKa's MSM press!!
Readers, I could type flowing prose and poetic verses if I so desired, but I'm tired of dressing turds up for elite sniffers. That's what newspapers do.
Oh, btw, I WAS RIGHT!!!!
"Kennametal extends worker furlough" by Erin Ailworth, Globe Staff | June 9, 2009
Seventy-five employees of a metal-cutting factory in Greenfield who have been on unpaid furlough since April will remain out of work until at least July 6, according to Kennametal, the factory's parent company.
The furlough, originally scheduled for six weeks, will now last for 11. The company previously has said the furlough could be extended, depending on economic conditions.
I keep telling ya.... so we are just a BRIEF NOW, Globe?
--more--"
Also fyi, readers, today is voting day in the town. Voting for mayor and a couple other local posts. Really doesn't matter; both guys running are basically the same. Sometimes local politics feels like a straight-jacket. All about getting big-box and biomass plant in here. Both in favor of big-box --which has split city -- and biomass plant which will devastate our wonderful forests and the FALL FOLIAGE (the stupid planners never think of such things) and poison the air from debris-burning that always occurs.
Related: Globe Makes a Bio-Mess
Wealthy Responsible For Global Warming
You can obviously deduce that I am against the burning of the trees (Globe convinced me). As for the other races, I need to be sure to try and get McCormic on the School Committee.
See: Truthrocker's Ticket
Time to go vote, for all the good it will do.
