GE closes lightbulb factory and lays off workers. I opened the sale blurb

[morningglory]

in the paper the same day. Those curly light bulbs are $16 for an 8-pack. Hmmm, the ones we put in at $4 apiece 7 years ago are still shining. The blurb said the new, latest and greatest LED lights are $25 each -- in the frikken sale insert thingy. Why on earth can't GE crank up that light bulb factory and sell those? Michael Moore is right. Our brilliant CEOs can't tie their own shoes. All they can do is rip people off. They are not helping.

[SharonAnn]

1. Jack Welch (former GE CEO) said manufacturing plants should be on barges

and they should be moved to where the cheapest labor in the world was. And then moved again if labor got cheaper somewhere else.

[morningglory]

2. Wish we could put that old fart on a barge... nt

[EC]

4. The Mariana's work model

that Tom Delay said America should strive for..

[Hello_Kitty]

13. Hell, there are DUers who would think that's a jim dandy idea. eom

[boppers]

3. What's the retooling, and retraining, cost?

CEO's think in money terms, if you can explain it to them that way, you're golden.

[WinkyDink]

5. The new lights are good for neither reading by nor getting rid of.

Apparently, while the UK just went ahead and made "normal" bulbs illegal (in due time), we'll take the path of not manufacturing.

[Iterate]

6. The EU has phased out wasteful standard incandescent bulbs

and I can assure you they still read. Acceptance of energy efficient bulbs is well above 85%, and the phase out will be completed in 2012. Britain was behind the adoption curve, but will complete the transition in 2011. The US is behind further still, and I think the target date is 2020.

http://ec.europa.eu/energy/lumen/editorial/index_en.htm

http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=MEMO/09/113

And of course, recycling or proper disposal is a responsibility regardless of product.

BTW, the EU no longer manufactures light bulbs either.

[Hannah Bell]

7. those new crap bulbs burn out just as fast & cost like 5 times more.

they almost started a fire in my porch light.

[Iterate]

8. I can see where that would be off-putting.

I've seem many similar reports and most seem to be a from few years ago and from the US. Refunds were available, but nowhere could I find an admission from any company as to the cause of the problem. As it came with an influx of cheaper bulbs onto the US market, it makes me wonder if a new plant or two dumped substandard product on the US. It wouldn't be the first time.

There can be a problem with enclosed light fixtures, and base-up or base-down usage needs to be considered. Somewhere not long ago I saw a design that was rated for better for outdoor usage. I guess I've been lucky, nearly 10 years now and only 1? or 2? replacements.

Regardless, I'd go back to using candles if I thought it would put Blankenship out of business.

[mercuryblues]

9. GE

No GE is not closing the factory because it will be obsolete. GE's big money is in defense. They have been considering selling their appliance division too. A corporation is out to make the most money for its investors, not to provide those investors with a job. They make profits on their lightbulb and appliance divisions, just not enough for those huge bonuses.

This is an example of profits before people. GE will most likely open a plant in Mexico, pay those workers $50 a week and overnight their profit margin rises. The price of lightbulbs will not go down to reflect the cheap labor. GE profits will increase. They will not have to worry about pollution, insurance, or any of those profit eating regulations. What they fail to realize, people in the US will not be able to afford those light bulbs anymore.

http://www.thefreelibrary.com/CBC%3A+Job+Security+%231+for+GE+Workers%3B+Where+Have+All+the+Jobs+Gone%3F-a019332147

from 1997:

For example, in February GE announced 300 jobs were at risk as it planned to shift production from its steam turbine plant in Schenectady, N.Y. to a non-union plant in Maine and give additional work to outside suppliers. GE reported it did this to reduce costs so the turbine business "can contribute profitable orders in the future," said a GE executive. But operating profits in GE's power systems division increased by 39 percent to $1.1 billion in 1996.

Similarly, GE closed the Hickory plant in August 1996 and took some 300 jobs to Monterrey, Mexico, where workers reportedly were going to earn pennies an hour.

to 2008:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/23/business/23electric.html

Over all, revenue fell 10 percent in the fourth quarter, to $41.4 billion. In 2009, revenue was down 14 percent, at $156.7 billion, compared with $182.5 billion in 2008.

So where were GE's "losses"?
Their financial division and commercial property divisions. Not in factories that employ people and make a needed product.


The company’s financial unit, G.E. Capital, for instance, has been pummeled by the collapse of the commercial real estate market and a steady rise in consumers who are unable to pay their bills.

Still, even G.E. Capital has been able to turn a profit — its earnings totaled $336 million in the fourth quarter — largely because of tax credits. Commercial real estate was the only part of G.E. Capital not to make money in the fourth quarter: it lost $593 million, for a total of $1.5 billion in 2009.

Now for the disconnect....

Steven E. Winoker, an analyst at Bernstein Research, said the country’s high jobless rate — 10 percent in December — could cause losses on loans and drag the company’s earnings down more than expected.

“Unemployment remains stubbornly negative, and the impact of that on a longer-term basis could be worse than people are saying,” Mr. Winoker said.


So what does GE do? make more unemployed.

At least the CEO refused his 12 million dollar bonus in 2008, after earning over 13 million in 2007.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123495822386310161.html

General Electric Co. Chairman and CEO Jeffrey Immelt is forgoing more than $12 million in compensation for 2008, a year the company made use of government support as its profits and stock price declined amid the global economic crisis.

"Earnings came in below where we expected," Mr. Immelt wrote on the company's blog Wednesday, citing declining equity markets and a sliding GE stock price in 2008. "In these circumstances, I recommended to GE's Board of Directors that I would not receive a bonus in 2008." His bonus for 2007 was $5.8 million.

In addition to not receiving a bonus for 2008, Mr. Immelt also suggested -- and the board agreed -- that he forgo a special three-year, long-term incentive payout that would have totaled $11.7 million.

Mr. Immelt, 53 years old, earned $3.3 million in salary in 2008 and hasn't received a raise since 2005. He's also receiving a $2 million equity award.

That's a 61% decline from his compensation in 2007 of $13.81 million, which included salary, the $5.8 million bonus and equity award.


he refused his bonus again last year, but received millions in stock options. Their financial division took a big hit in revenue, they close plants in America to keep the profits up and the CEO refusues his multi million dollar bonus (other execs take theirs)


http://www.usatoday.com/money/companies/management/2010-03-05-geceodeclinesbonus_N.htm

However, GE did not leave Immelt empty-handed. He was paid a $3.3 million salary, the same as a year ago, and granted him 150,000 performance share units worth $1.8 million that will convert to GE stock if the company meets certain financial goals. GE also gave Immelt 2 million in stock options Thursday worth between $7 million and $8 million, though those options do not appear on his 2009 pay package.

Overall, Immelt's 2009 pay fell slightly to about $5.6 million, from $5.7 million in 2008. It also fell below the compensation of the four other top GE executives listed on GE's proxy, who all received bonuses



For a look at GE executive pay and bonuses.

http://www.companypay.com/executive/compensation/general-electric-co.asp?yr=2008

[Iterate]

10. Excellent post

I would disagree only in that it seems GE would want us to own these light bulbs, one each, which we could hang in the center of our shantytown huts.

BTW, while looking over the issue I noticed that the RW is characterizing this shutdown as a failure of the Obama administration, which for their purposes includes the entire congress, and a law passed in 2007. They also want to fault something called a "green bandwagon", which sounds downright mythical.

[mercuryblues]

11. thanks

Ge is by no means the only company following this MO. It is sickening. Their manufacturing base has shown a remarkable rise in profits as American jobs are outsourced. Their financial division has taken a huge hit as a result, so they layoff more people from the manufacturing division to make up for that loss. Through all of this consumers have not seen cheaper prices on products, but companies see an increase in profits.

Companies that move their factories to places like Mexico and China have far fewer environmental regulations. They can pollute at will, with little if any repercussions. GE will not be happy until the only light bulbs they sell are placed in coffins.

http://www.corpwatch.org/section.php?id=16


Beginning in 1949, General Electric deliberately released radioactive material to see how far downwind it would travel
<snip>

In 1986, Representative Edward Markey, D-Massachusetts, held hearings in which it was disclosed that the United States and General Electric had conducted experiments on hundreds of United States citizens who became “nuclear calibration devices for experimenters run amok.” According to Markey: “Too many of these experiments used human subjects that were captive audiences or populations ... considered ‘expendable’ ... the elderly, prisoners and hospital patients who might not have retained their full faculties for informed consent.”

More at the link above.

[Iterate]

12. I thought I knew something

about the company history, but a good share of that I didn't know or had forgotten -and the site doesn't even cover much of their international business dealings. The words "ongoing criminal conspiracy" come to mind. Moreover, I'd been fooled into buying their products through subsidiaries and a few image makeovers.

I had a very good friend years ago whose father had been one of the soldiers exposed to the early bomb tests. As she told it, they could track their health through the VA. I always wanted to ask him about it, but he died at a young age.