MANUFACTURING

U.S. stepped in when R.I. jobs vanished

$23M in aid to 5,400 laid off in last decade

Kate Bramson
kbramson@providencejournal.com
Machine operators David Rosati, left and Pete Townsend check a coating machine at Arkwright Advanced Coating in Scituate in 2010, the year the manufacturer celebrated its 200th anniversary. In 2014, workers displaced from the company received federal job-training assistance. JOURNAL FILES

After President-elect Donald Trump's recent visit to Indiana to celebrate air conditioner and furnace maker Carrier's announcement that it would not close an Indianapolis factory and move the jobs to Mexico, Trump continues stressing his intentions to punish American companies that fire workers here, build factories in other countries and then sell goods back in the United States.

American manufacturers shuttering U.S. factories and building in other countries where they can benefit from cheaper labor and operating costs is nothing new.

Since the 1970s, the federal government has paid many millions of dollars to American workers displaced by such corporate decisions. The money has flowed from the U.S. Department of Labor under the Trade Adjustment Assistance Program, created because of the Trade Act of 1974, according to the labor department.

As Trump celebrated the decision by Carrier's parent company, United Technologies Corp., to keep about 800 manufacturing jobs in Indianapolis, The Providence Journal examined which Rhode Island companies have been adversely affected by foreign trade, including how many workers here have received federal trade assistance money because their jobs were eliminated. 

Federal data shows the Labor Department has certified employees from Rhode Island companies for federal trade assistance on 275 separate occasions since 1976 but does not readily detail total money given to help those employees. That list includes General Electric Co. in 1979 and again in 1982 and 1988; American Tourister in 1986, 1993 and 1996; Brown & Sharpe Manufacturing Co. in 1991; and Hasbro Inc. in 1995, 1997, 1999 and 2013.

In the last decade, employees from 61 Rhode Island companies, mostly manufacturers, have qualified for such federal trade assistance, according to more detailed data provided by the Rhode Island Department of Labor and Training.

Among those was the John Crane Sealol manufacturing plant in Cranston, which closed in 2012, costing 70 people their jobs.

Those John Crane employees were among 5,400 people who lost Rhode Island jobs between 2007 and 2016, and who received federal help to pay the bills, train for new specialties and find new careers, the DLT data shows.

In the last decade, those displaced workers received more than $23 million from the U.S. Department of Labor under the Trade Adjustment Assistance Program, DLT data shows. 

The state data helps detail which Rhode Island manufacturing jobs have been lost over the last decade. The 51,800 manufacturing jobs here in December 2006 had dropped to 41,300 by October, the most recent data available. 

Displaced workers from Microfibres in Pawtucket, Waukesha Bearings Corporation in West Greenwich, Osram Sylvania in Central Falls and The Colibri Group in Providence have gotten about $23,000 per person, on average, in federal assistance, DLT Director Scott Jensen said.

That assistance includes longer-lasting unemployment benefits than is available to those who lose jobs for other reasons, Jensen said. It helps pay for people to go back to school or enroll in training for new careers. A small portion also covers the work of DLT employees who help laid-off workers find new jobs.

The data doesn't indicate precisely why companies were certified for trade assistance. For example, it doesn't show whether multiple companies were affected by outsourcing to particular countries.

When John Crane Sealol closed, union representative Richard Del Carpini told The Journal the company's equipment would be divvied up among plants in Illinois, Louisiana and Mexico. The global technology company that had acquired the Cranston facility, Smiths Group of London, was doing more and more work in Mexico, Del Carpini said.

The state data shows that fewer companies have been certified recently for federal help than during the depths of the Great Recession, which began in 2007 and ended here in 2010. In 2009, the most companies and employees — 15 firms and 1,067 people — were certified for help, but the most federal money flowed into Rhode Island in 2011 — $5.8 million.

Jensen said he doesn't know whether Mexico, China or other countries have caused the most strain on Rhode Island's economy. The reduction in companies being certified for federal help is probably a combination of an improving economy and the likelihood that companies most susceptible to the allure of cheap labor in other countries "have gone already," he said. 

Nationally, since the start of 2015, the labor department has certified more than 1,600 workplaces for federal trade assistance, "easily tens of thousands of people," said Scott N. Paul, president of the Alliance for American Manufacturing. The Washington, D.C., nonprofit is dedicated to strengthening American manufacturing.

As Trump talks about renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA, and cracking down on companies that send jobs to Mexico, China and elsewhere, Paul said that an administration hoping to keep U.S. companies and jobs should employ a broad strategy that includes improving infrastructure, training a skilled workforce, setting a fair tax environment and creating access to talent and innovation.

One other factor that companies would probably consider is "the intangible value of good will," Paul said in an interview. "If you were a company, would you want the president of the United States tweeting about you incessantly in a negative way?" 

Taking a more aggressive stance against China than Mexico, Paul said, makes sense for a variety of reasons. More jobs have shifted to China. Plus, there's less parity in that relationship than between the U.S. and Mexico, where there's more cross-trading, as companies make parts here, send them to Mexico for assembly and bring them back to the United States for sale, he said.

Jensen said neither he nor anyone in Gov. Gina Raimondo's administration has  talked yet with Trump's transition team about what would help Rhode Island retain manufacturing jobs.  

As the Commerce Corporation has employed economic incentives to retain companies such as A.T. Cross, there's more conversation in recent years about companies being enticed by similar incentives from other states, rather than the threat of jobs moving overseas. Commerce and DLT leaders and Raimondo frequently say the state's revamped skills-training program appeals to employers.

Jensen, whom Raimondo recruited to revamp DLT's job-training efforts, said he thinks the state's Real Jobs R.I. effort to develop training that meets particular companies' needs will continue to have federal bipartisan support.

Jensen had worked to revamp Maryland's job-training program, under a Democratic state administration.

Now, two years later and under a Republican state administration, he said, "Earn Maryland is still fully funded."

A decade of help for R.I. firms hurt by trade

Employees of the following Rhode Island companies have received more than $23 million over the past decade in federal money to help them train for new careers and find jobs

2016

Microfibres Inc., Pawtucket

Citizens Bank N.A., Cranston

Citizens Bank N.A., East Providence

2015

Honeywell International, Cranston

Waukesha Bearings Corporation, West Greenwich

Stuart Manufacturing LLC, Central Falls

2014

Arkwright Advanced Coating Inc., Scituate

New England Paper Tube Co. Inc., Pawtucket

Quality Ribbon Mills Inc., Cumberland

OSRAM Sylvania, Central Falls

2013

Quest Diagnostics, Cranston

Hasbro Inc., Pawtucket

Zebra Technologies Corporation, Lincoln

Interstate Brands Corporation (IBC), operating throughout the state

2012

Crimzon Rose Inc., West Warwick

Sony Electronics Inc., Cranston

Image Scan LLC, East Providence

Microfibres Inc., Pawtucket

2011

BNY Mellon Investment Servicing (US) Inc., Pawtucket

Steiff North America, Lincoln

John Crane Inc., Cranston

Dama Jewelry Technology, Johnston 

Dell Healthcare Services, Providence

2010

Stanley Black and Decker, East Greenwich

Providence Chain Company, Providence

Metlife Group Inc., West Warwick

Wardwell Braiding Machine Company, Central Falls

Cranston Print Works Company, Cranston

Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics, Bristol

Precision Etchings and Findings Inc., Warwick

Honeywell International, Pawtucket

Goetz Custom Technologies LLC, Bristol

RBS Citizens N.A., East Providence

RBS Citizens N.A., Cranston

RBS Citizens N.A., Warwick 

RBS Citizens N.A., Warwick 

RBS Citizens N.A., East Providence

AGFA HealthCare Inc., Westerly

Precision Source, Smithfield

2009

Employment 2000 Corp., Woonsocket

Portola Tech International, Woonsocket

Technical Machining Services Inc., Lincoln

Oracle Lens Manufacturing, Warwick

Eastern Screw Company Inc., Johnston

Honeywell International, Pawtucket

Honeywell International, Woonsocket

Birks and Mayors Inc., Woonsocket

Microfibres Inc., Pawtucket

B.A. Ballou and Company, Inc., East Providence

Health Net Inc., South Kingstown

Victoria and Co., Ltd, East Providence

Leviton Manufacturing Company, Inc., Warwick

Garrity Industries Inc., Hopkinton

Scott Brass Inc., Cranston

Cranston Print Works Company, Cranston

2008

Stanley Fastening Systems L.P., East Greenwich

Clariant Corporation, Coventry

Greystone of Lincoln Inc., Lincoln

Narragansett Jewelry Company Inc., Providence

Evergy Inc., Pawtucket

Tytex Inc., Woonsocket 

Kik Custom Products Inc., Cumberland

ATP Manufacturing LLC, North Smithfield

Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics, Bristol

Bradford Dyeing Assocation Inc., Westerly

A. T. Cross Company, Lincoln

The Quill Company Inc., Cranston

2007

Quadriga Art LLC, Pawtucket

Charbert, Richmond

The Colibri Group, Providence

GTECH Corporation, Coventry

GTECH Corporation, West Greenwich

Microfibres Inc., Pawtucket

Sardelli International LLC, Providence

Parlex Polymer Flexible Circuits Inc., Cranston

Portola Tech International, Woonsocket

SOURCE: Rhode Island Department of Labor and Training

— kbramson@providencejournal.com

(401) 277-7470

On Twitter: @JournalKate