The Dayton Dustbowl: Foreman Says “These Jobs Are Going, Boys, And They Ain’t Coming Back”

HutchTech is laying off a third of its workforce, and moving a chunk of what’s left to…

…newly pro-business Wisconsin.

Coincidence? Correlation doesn’t necessarily equal causation. Technology companies – especially companies that manufacture parts for PCs, which have been cheap commodities for years.

Hutchinson Technology today announced it will shed 30-40% of its workforce in a restructuring move. Hundreds of employees will be laid off from the company’s Hutchinson operation, where many jobs will be moved to Eau Claire, WI and overseas (Star Trib story). While U.S. technology manufacturers have struggled to compete with the influx of foreign competitors, Wisconsin’s new pro-business plans certainly didn’t hurt their chances of attracting the employer across our borders.

But that whole “correlation doesn’t equal causation” bit? As Andy Post at MDE notes, Mark Dayton could stand to remember it:

Who’s to blame for these lost jobs? You may remember last November when Mark Dayton blamed Governor Tim Pawlenty for job losses at Lockheed Martin. Dayton was quoted saying,“It seems to me this is fundamentally a responsibility of Gov. Pawlenty and his administration,” without any further logic or explanation.

Then, of course, these latest layoffs are fundamentally a responsibility of you, Governor Dayton.

Fair for TPaw, fair for Lord Fauntelroy.

And it is fair. Because at the margins, people – and companies – expend their resources to save on taxes.

And sometimes that involves shedding jobs – whether it’s because the state is hobbled with a tax-and-spend-crazy DFL legislature, or a tax-and-spend-crazy DFL governor who is dead-set on hamstringing the grownups’ efforts to get the house in order.

Posted

March 9, 2011

Dayton Dustbowl, Governor

Mitch Berg

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13 responses to “The Dayton Dustbowl: Foreman Says “These Jobs Are Going, Boys, And They Ain’t Coming Back””

Rob

March 9, 2011

“It seems to me this is fundamentally a responsibility of Gov. Pawlenty and his administration,

That has to be one of the dumbest things I have heard…
bosshoss429

March 9, 2011

Well, hold on to your hat, Rob! I’ve got a feeling that our own version of Joe Biden, will provide plenty of these gems over the course of his term.
Rob

March 9, 2011

♪ “You aint seen nothin yet” ♫
Mr. D

March 9, 2011

I blame Karl Rolvaag.
MyGovIsNuts

March 9, 2011

How long until Governor Crazy Eyes goes to the podium and announces: “I didn’t do it. Nobody saw me do it. Can’t prove anything!”
Kermit

March 9, 2011

Obviously Hutch Tech doesn’t want to pay it’s “fair share”.
bubbasan

March 9, 2011

As Kermit says, they are corporate Benedict Arnolds.

Notice here that it’s the OVERALL job loss of 700-900 jobs, but since they’re moving production to Eau Claire, probably close to double that for Hutchinson. I’m guessing that Hutch–once again trying to keep bankruptcy lawyers at bay–is not going to move a lot of those people, either.
bosshoss429

March 9, 2011

bubbasan;

Don’t know if anyone saw the CBS online report on this development yesterday, but the comments were full of former employees villifying the ownership for all of the usual libturd talking points; greed, lost investments through Bernie Madoff, etc.

From what I gathered through Hutch locals in the know, there will be some re-lo offers to Eau Claire, but as you surmised, not many.
kel

March 9, 2011

admittedly a problematic measurement, but, the most recent published per capita income for Hutchinson is $19,970 while the per capita income for Eau Claire is $18,230 roughly 8.7% lower – if that difference holds true for the potential HutchTech hires in Eau Claire what company wouldn’t look favorably at a 8.7% reduction in payroll costs?
nerdbert

March 9, 2011

Hutchinson has issues that are harder to overcome than just taxes. They do the work here, but Seagate doesn’t do much manufacturing in the US anymore. They only do prototype builds down in Shakopee anymore.

I know, it’s a shock that nobody builds tech in the US anymore, but as Andy Grove pointed out it only costs 33% more to make the same tech product in the US because of all the regulations, even in non-labor intensive factories. He’s threatening to move the last of the big semiconductor fabs offshore at this rate.
Chuck

March 9, 2011

I konw someone who works for Hutch in Eau Claire. They don’t pay a lot, but it’s a job and people seem to by happy with the company.

Although a different industry, I think the lawsuit against the GroupOn coupon thing is a perfect example of why it is so hard to do business in the US. First the gov’t passes a law that says gift cards can never expire, then some leech sues a coupon company because their coupons have expiration dates. Sometimes it is easier just to do you business in Mexico or Thailand.
K-Rod

March 9, 2011

Wow, an end to the chicken coop company.
Scott Hughes

March 9, 2011

The plan for the move had to be in the works for quite some time, it normally isn’t something that just happens overnight. Maybe a move had been put in place in fear of a future with Big MAK and Pogostick at the helm.