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Boom, Bust, Exodus: The Rust Belt, the Maquilas, and a Tale of Two Cities starts off in Galesburg, Illinois in the 1950s when Americans were grabbing any appliance they could afford. It tells how Admiral refrigerators were made and describes the life and working conditions of the workers. From there it evolves into the story of the Maytag factory, its workers, and the tremendous effect it had on life in Galesburg. In-between the chapters on the American Maytag factory, are chapters on life in Reynosa, Mexico, the city where Maytag moved to in 2004, after closing the Galesburg factory.
The workers in the United States earned $15 an hour, and had a union, benefits and retirement plans. The workers in Mexico made only a dollar something an hour, and were quickly replaced by other workers if they complained about anything. By the end of the book, the reader is well versed in the lives of the American and Mexican workers, the cities in which they lived, why people chose to work in those factories, what happened when both factories closed, and what went so wrong with Maytag. Most readers will also have a much clearer understanding of what happens when American companies relocate to other countries.
This book is listed under both economics and sociology, and that's what you get--a combination of the two. Thus, those readers deeply inclined in one direction or the other may find parts of the books less interesting than others. It's 312 pages, plus 55 pages of footnote references and 9 pages of method notes. It is sure to be used in many classrooms, but a general public reader should have little problem understanding it.Read more ›
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The company that was "here" is now... "there". Author Chad Broughton has done a masterful job examining how globalization has devastated one community, while profiting another. Looking at Galesburg, Illinois, which lost the Maytag factory in 2004, Broughton explores both the corporate loss to the city and the personal loss to the workers when the plant closed and moved to Mexico. And, of course, what was Galesburg loss was Reynosa, Mexico's gain.
Manufacturing in the northern part of the United States has been looking "south" for 50 years now. My grandfather owned a lighter manufacturing plant in Springfield, Illinois for thirty years and when the workers began to look at unionizing, my grandfather moved to plant to Tennessee, which was a "right-to-work" state. This was in 1959 and our plant was only one of many that closed up and moved to where the work was done cheaper. I think that, in general, the companies moving "south" stayed in the United States, but other, later, companies moved further and further away from American workers. They took advantage of NAFTA and the 1990's saw a rush of companies to Mexico and eventually to Asia.
But what happened to the town and the workers who had given in some cases decades of their lives for the lost company? Pensions were lost and lives had to be "reinvented". People had to decide to either be retrained for jobs in other, newer fields or to try to find factory work in any factories remaining in the community. And with workers losing their jobs, other community services and consumer enterprises were affected by the loss of revenue from the fired employees. Losing the Maytag factory to Mexico also meant brightened lives in Reynosa. The "cost" of "brightening" lives was considerably less in Mexico than in the United States.Read more ›
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Chad Broughton is well-qualified to write about the economic challenges faced in the new global economy. As a senior lecturer in public studies at the University of Chicago, he has the academic credentials to bolster his first-hand impressions of what he calls his own tale of two cities. He examines the social, civic, and familial culture of Galesburg, Illinois, a city built on the Maytag refrigerator plant. The huge building dominates the landscape, and once, it was the source of pride and a sort of insurance policy for those who wanted to stay in their hometown, live a decent life, and live on into retirement there.
Enter Reynosa, Mexico where the NAFTA alliance allows Reynosa to receive the closed Galesburg plant. Changes occur in Reynosa, some good, some bad. The townspeople work for $1.10 per hour, as opposed to the American wage of $11 and higher per hour. The workers in Mexico put in 13-hour days. Overtime is not considered. Obviously, the owners of the Maytag empire stand to gain in profit. The Mexican workers are glad to have jobs.
But all is not well in Reynosa or in Galesburg. The shuttered plant in Galesburg is an eyesore. The people must retrain and find new jobs if they wish to stay in their homes. In Reynosa, another class of people emerges, and the drug wars hit hard.
With compassion for both sides of the story,m Broughton's assiduously researched work offers a look that will keep the reader from quick and easy conclusions of what is right and what is wrong with the world of the global economy. This is not an entertaining read, but it is an important one for those who wish to understand the economics of life in the 21st century.
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