Raise the Hammer

Damn. That's bad news to wake up to.

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Trey

A couple of things you didn't mention, I85 runs through downtown Charlotte and the stadium is about two blocks from it. I pass by it a couple of times a years on my way to Florida. The light rail line is only about a kilometer long and only runs in the downtown.

The reason Siemens moved to Charlotte is because North Carolina is a right to work state where employees have very few rights and very limited ability to organize. It is an anti union utopia. Workers will take what they are given and if they don't like it too bad. Low wages and no benefits are the norm.

The decision to move had nothing to do with Hamilton and everything to do with lowering wages and maximizing profits on the backs of their employees.

Comment edited by bigguy1231 on 2010-03-11 20:12:50

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Momentum Schmomentum...city council last night was talking about a new publication called 'momentum' which probably cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to produce....Go tell these unemployed folks we have 'momentum' in the city!

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This is very bad news, just what the city needs more unemployed workers. It is very sad to hear that down there in North Carolina that workers have limited ways of organizing, it is a drive to the bottom.

Equally disturbing news that we received yesterday, is this the fact the workers who see their EI exhausted and who may be forced onto the welfare system, will find themselves having to volunteer. It is disturbing that a certain organization with the blessing of Ontario Works can get employers to pay them $10.00 per hour, pay volunteers a stipend of $30.00 for an 8 hour day of work. The catch is that for every dollar earned it is penalized at 50%, thus making it almost impossible to break the welfare wall. It is already written into the Ontario Works Act 1997, that a worker does not have any rights under employment standards, which means they can force you into a low paying job, where you will not get paid for a number of weeks. So you can be a skilled worker, forced into an unskilled job and have no protecton was so ever. It is already a given the workers who work in the precarious job market have a really hard time getting their rights under employment standards enforced. It can take up to two years just to get wages that have not been paid.

My concerns are related to Occupational Health and Safety and WSIB. What if the worker gets injuried, since they are not employees, then that are not entitled to any protection under the law. So what if a worker say lost a hand, will they only get a few hundred dollars from an insurance policy and told that is life, too bad for you.

Labour activists in this city need to start working together to educate the public about this indentured slave labour.

The poverty industry in action, those who make good money, entitled to benefits and pensions, yet they step on other workers and deny them the most basic rights under Labour Law.

Comment edited by grassroots are the way forward on 2010-03-11 21:35:32

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I85 runs through downtown? Okay? Google map it. It's ring road through the suburbs.

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"The move is expected to create 825 engineering and manufacturing jobs in Charlotte within five years, paying an average wage of almost $64,000 a year. Production in the expanded plant is scheduled to start in the fall of 2011, the company said."

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the Lynx is a 10-km long light rail line with 15 stations....FYI

http://charmeck.org/Departments/CATS/LYN...

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I got one of those Momentum booklets from City Mall and it sure boasts a lot - but has no substance. All flash - the custom 25 degree forward diecut must've cost thousands to engineer. FAIL.

One statement stood above all though - "Creative Industries - Where the cool kids are!"

What?

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where can this momentum brochure be found? I live in one of the downtown postal codes that doesn't receive stuff like that from the city or the Spec.

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"Creative Industries - Where the cool kids are!"

Oh God, how embarrassing. Whose idea was that?

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Sorry Jason, you're wrong about the Lynx. I read on the intertubes that it was only 1km long, and since I read that before I read your "correction", I can't believe you.

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@Brandon upvoted because I'm pretty sure you're being facetious, but just in case...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LYNX_Rapid_...

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According to your link, the LYNX is over 15km long, so Jason, was wrong!

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I shared this article with a friend in NC. She sent me this link: (http://www.wral.com/business/story/7216921/)

(Note the mention of Hamilton.)

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The light rail line is only about a kilometer long and only runs in the downtown.

You're nailing it over in the stadium thread but this, I just had to laugh. A 1km light rail line would be what, 2 stops?

Maybe that's just as far as they got before the vast majority of taxpayers united in protest and put a stop to construction because they couldn't make left turns onto side streets?

Comment edited by jonathan dalton on 2010-03-12 10:56:14

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"State and local governments promised up to $35 million in tax breaks and grants. A county development entity is also prepared to lend Siemens up to $120 million in low-interest loans, with funding coming from bonds created by last year’s federal stimulus package.

Siemens said the move to Charlotte was in part driven by a need to be closer to customers. Siemens-built power plants supply one-third of North America’s electricity, the company said."

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Grants similar to what McQuinty is offering Mitsubishi ? to build power plants in Ontario?

Global economy... is Siemens going to move its plant every time they finish a job for a client? Being close to your customers hasn't been relevant since globalization.

The Lynx is 15km long with 15 stations http://charmeck.org/Departments/CATS/LYN...

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"I85 runs through downtown? Okay? Google map it. It's ring road through the suburbs."

Should have said I77, thats the road that runs through downtown North to South.

Just an aside, when refering to the map I noticed how many of Charlotte's downtown streets are one way. Looks alot like the streets in downtown Hamilton.

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$35 m in tax breaks and $130 m loans, let's say that's another 5 m per year in lost interest...how much are they paying per worker for 825 jobs? 50000 upfront and 6000 per year after that? Honestly that really does sound like a financial decision Trey, even if my math is way off. Their reasoning sounds like pure bs, but the money doesn't.

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I think it's a money issue too. As soon as I heard the news I mentioned to some others that many US states are allowed to bonus and they offer massive subsidies to any plant they can get their hands on. We offer some subsidies here, but nothing like what they do in the US. And it's illegal to "bonus" in Canada.

They sure do a good job down there of convincing the public that their country is some bastion of free market enterprise and Canada is mere inches away from becoming a socialist state.

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It's because government is wasteful and business is efficient. When they are massively bankrolled by the government.

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We are a socialist state...and that is never good for attracting business....massive social welfare programs, unaffordable government entitlement programs, social housing that attracts quasi criminals...Bratina is right by the way in wanting to shine a light on these issues...and a city that chases away any sniff of progress...we are our own worst enemies so when facories leave, we have only ourselves to blame.

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So if it is a money issue and not a quality of life issue at all? Then I suppose we continue to let it happen, and cry "no fair". A money/grant issue is an easier problem to fix, McQuinty get on it.

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oh, don't get me wrong. I'm sure it's also a quality of life issue too, but money rules.

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Quality of life might be an issue for creative industries, by I doubt very much it played into Siemens' decision. This was purely a numbers game. But to the extent that quality of life matters, 'entitlement' programs like health care and public education that our friend 'Marx' rails against, have a much bigger impact on QOL than LRT and downtown stadiums.

Comment edited by highwater on 2010-03-13 12:17:20

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and while I don't know anything about Charlotte I would be willing to bet there's a pretty big chunk of that population in poverty and/or in prison.

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"and while I don't know anything about Charlotte..."

That's a really good place to stop.

Seriously.

I swear, sometimes the level of discourse here gets incredibly shameful.

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According to Siemens the move was triggered by low to non existent sales in Canada and growing sales in the USA. Evidently a citizens group just managed to stop a natural gas powered electric generating plant from being built. Not exactly sure where but I believe it was Mississauga. These are the type of installations that buy Siemens turbines and Ontario has decided not to go that route.

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ok I could have made my point better: that we don't know a lot about quality of life in Charlotte if we're going to say companies are leaving here for there. Is that better/ less shameful?

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Not exactly sure where but I believe it was Mississauga. These are the type of installations that buy Siemens turbines and Ontario has decided not to go that route

It was Oakville, the NIMBY capital of the world, and it only means it won't get built in Oakville. It's still going to be built.

Markets are global. Siemens is blowing smoke.

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