Hawaii manufacturing jobs drop 5 percent

[Doondoo]

Hawaii's small manufacturing sector got even smaller last year as plants closed and factory jobs declined five percent.

The state, which ranks second lowest in the nation for manufacturing jobs, lost 1,545 factory positions and 68 plants last year, according to the newly released 2007 Hawaii Manufacturers Directory.

Snack-food processor Frito-Lay's closure of its 24-year-old Oahu factory played a major role in the drop. The company started supplying the local market from mainland production operations in November, eliminating 108 jobs.

"Many Hawaii companies ... (continue) to be lured by cheaper labor costs overseas," said Tom Dubin, president of Manufacturers' News Inc., the Evanston, Ill. company that publishes the directory.

"For the plants that remain, fewer employees are needed thanks to automation and technology," Dubin said. "Instead of four low-skilled workers on an assembly line, you now may have one worker entering numerical codes into a computer that controls the manufacturing process."


http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/H/HI_HAWAII_MANUFACTURING_HIOL-?SITE=VARIT&SECTION=US&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2007-02-15-17-28-14

[cdnwannabe]

1. We simply have to boycott the crap out of these companies....

if we shift our dollars to companies that pay good wages, we can make the kind of change we want and need in this world. A good place to start is:

www.justiceclothing.com