Posted on 11/08/2003 3:53:29 PM PST by Willie Green
For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use.
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (AP) - Speaking little about fixing the textile crisis in North Carolina, President Bush focused instead Friday on worker retraining for biotechnology and other emerging fields to help displaced workers.
"People who have lost work should have hope," the president said at a forum at Forsyth Technical Community College, where he heard from students who have used federal grants to go back to school and find new employment. "The economy is growing, new jobs are being created."
Bush's appearance at the school and at a fund-raising luncheon in downtown Winston-Salem did little to raise hopes of North Carolina textile executives who want to hear more concrete ways to stop what they call unfair trade practices by China. Except for mentioning textile job losses and the need for fair trade, Bush unveiled no new plans publicly to help the industry.
"It is very frustrating to be ignored," said Guilford Mills chief executive John Emrich in neighboring Greensboro.
He didn't attend Friday's fund-raiser, even though he said his company bought a table for a Bush event during his first presidential campaign.
"Right now, the administration and I (are) on different sides of the street," Emrich said.
On the stage in the Forsyth Tech auditorium, students joined the college president and two recruiters to discuss the college's expanding biotechnology program. The program, which began just 14 months ago in part with a U.S. Labor Department grant, is already the largest of its kind in the state.
North Carolina has lost about 150,000 jobs over the past three years, many in textiles and apparel. Scott Hiner worked for textile giant Unifi for 15 years before he was let go at their Yadkinville plant.
The Trade Adjustment Act, which provides grants for displaced workers, is paying for Hiner's tuition and books at Forsyth Tech. He hopes to get a job at a pharmaceutical company or other firm.
"There is a lot of government help out there. You've just got to look for it," Hiner told Bush.
The help isn't that far away in Winston-Salem, said college president Gary Green. A regional job center on campus provides the unemployed with new career ideas and ways to pay to pursue them, he said.
The president held up Winston-Salem as a model for creating a new template for its economy. Long relying on the declining textiles and tobacco industries, the city is now working on a Piedmont Triad Research Park downtown to recruit biotechnology companies to the area. Forsyth Tech is training new workers with these companies in mind. Employees at Wake Forest University medical school and local pharmaceutical are teaching classes and hiring graduates.
"All we've got to do is bridge from the textile sector to the biotechnology sector with smart education practices," said Bush, adding he wants Congress to provide more flexibility in some $15 billion in worker training given annually to the states by the federal government.
"There's great hope and opportunity ... so long as the training facilities are modern and active and not rigid."
A North Carolina congressman criticized Bush for painting a rosy picture of the economy.
"President Bush has more explaining to do in North Carolina than he can do in a couple of hours," said Rep. Brad Miller, D-N.C. "I wish he'd visit folks who have been out of work for three years and have no idea where they'll find a job. I'd like to see President Bush tell them how well the economy is doing."
And Bush's message likely didn't win over some 300 activists who gathered a few blocks from the Benton Convention Center, where the president was expected to raise $1.1 million for his re-election campaign.
The protesters held signs in Winston Park criticizing the president on his handling of the Iraqi war and the economy before marching toward the convention center. The Forsyth County Democratic Party ran a "soup kitchen" to remind people of job losses that it blamed on the Bush administration.
Some said the president has destroyed North Carolina's economy by pushing trade policies that have left companies competing against cheap overseas textiles and apparel. Not even tariffs on Chinese exports to the United States, which the textile industry is seeking, will help now, one protester said.
"Where several plants are closed, that's a little late to be very helpful," said Ellen LaConte, 56, of Winston-Salem, carrying a sign that read, "No Freedom in Free Trade."
Coming out of the forum, Rick Begley, 68, of Kernersville liked what the president said and didn't think he needed to lay out a new textile policy Friday. In the long term, the state's economy is moving toward high-tech jobs, he said.
"The textile jobs, unless they are highly specialized, are gone forever," he said.
I think Dubya is trying to bribe aunt Tilley with socialist expansion of prescription drug Mediscam.
Oh. I was worried there for a moment or two...
Mr. Begley's indifference to the plight of us younger workers almost insures that his social security payments will end shortly. Frankly, I am appalled at this attitude among some of the current retirees. Too many seem content to watch the country go down the drain on the nightly news.
In regards to so-called "worker re-training". When the timber industry here in northern California was put out of business by the Clinton administration, Clinton promised worker re-training. Very few got it because for the most part, people moved away. The worker re-training money ended up being spent on public infra-structure. As one bureacrat stated, "We can't attract new businesses to the rural areas without adequate sewer systems."
Kinda sounds like Klintoon's "Bridge to the 21st Century", doesn't it?
Is Bush going to address that little factoid?
LOL. This is insane. I actually am a science major. Not that I am wizard, but some of the required courses are pretty tough. Certainly not for everyone.
True. And how many middle-aged former textile workers are capable of ever becoming bio-technologists? The bio-tech companies may have a few janitorial positions open for such people, but those will probably be filled with illegal aliens, freshly arrived from Mexico...
As though the type of person who is content sewing together duffel bags for the past ten years is just going to hop right over to centrifuges and gene splicing after a couple of years dwon at the community college.
Bush's bridge to the 21st century?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.