Posted on 02/03/2005 4:58:33 PM PST by Willie Green
For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use.
ILION - Employees of Remington Arms Co. voiced their concerns over the company's increase in gun manufacture out-sourcing yesterday, saying the future of the community is in jeopardy.
Remington Arms, which recently unveiled its new 2005 line of shotguns and rifles, has moved production of 17 shotgun models overseas to a central Russian company. Those models make up Remington's new Spartan Gunworks line. The announcement of the out-sourcing came last February.
With the introduction of Spartan Gunworks, the production line of over-and-under shotguns at the Ilion factory was stopped. Though the line was not officially shut down, all employees in that department were moved to other departments with those in charge saying it was a "temporary transfer," said employee Jack Pyle III, who has worked at Remington for eight years.
Now, the Ilion factory only produces two basic types of shotgun, with a number of variations; auto-loaders and bolt-action.
This fact has employees concerned.
"The bolt-action 700 is the bread and butter, it's the backbone of the industry here," said 31-year employee Dale Pritchard. "If (Spartan) starts making the bolt-action, we'll be done."
While employees, through United Mine Workers of America labor union's Remington Arms division, currently have a contract with the company stating that the company may not out-source to the point of laying off Ilion workers, that contract is up for renewal in 2007.
"Who knows what will happen then," said Barbara Brown, an employee of 21 years.
Brown suggested that the company's only way around layoffs has been the large number of retirees in recent years.
"We're not trying to blow this thing up, but I feel our jobs are in jeopardy," said Frank Brown. "We don't know what's going to happen. I've been there six years so far but do I have a future career or not?"
Employees discussed the similarity between their current situation and what happened to employees of Oneida Limited.
"I remember seeing Oneida Limited sending jobs to China and they told their employees not to worry," 27-year Remington employee Joanne Zaffarano pointed out. "Now look at them."
"We don't want to be the next Oneida Limited," Frank Brown said.
Remington Arms is the largest employer in Herkimer County.
"If people lose their jobs here, it will impact the whole community," Pritchard said.
The company's primary reason for moving production of 17 guns to Russia was monetary. Remington Arms saves nearly $400 in production costs per gun.
"They're looking at what will help stockholders," Zaffarano said. "They're only looking for what will jingle in their pockets. They don't care about our jobs, our insurance, our pension, the community, or anything else. Those things don't make their pockets jingle."
Employees also pointed out that many gun buyers still do not realize that some models are now being made overseas.
"People see the Remington name and know it's made in the U.S.A.," Brown said. "There is only one quick line in the catalogue that says the Spartan line is imported."
Another common sentiment is that seeing the Russian manufacturer referred to as "skilled artisans" was like a slap in the face.
"We've put years into this company," Pritchard said. "We've been doing this since, what, 1816? Yet the new guys in Russia are the skilled craftsmen and we're just workers."
While employees said they would ideally like to see Remington Arms stop out-sourcing work, they would at least like be told what is going on in person.
"We want to know how far they're planning on going with this," Brown said. "Why can't they just tell us instead of having us learn about it on a web site?"
"It's very frustrating," Pyle added.
Brown said the UMWA is seeking support and help from state Sen. James Seward, Assemblyman Marc Butler and U.S. Rep. Sherwood Boehlert, who have all shown interest in and sympathy to employee concerns.
I have his earlier .222 Model 700 as well.
My favorite is a 1863 58 caliber Zoave that's nicer than anything in the Ilion museum.
When I lived in Utica there was a joke:
Utica is the a**hole of New York.
And Herkimer is half way up it.
When I lived in upstate New York I thought it was the nicest place on earth.
People could not have been friendlier or kinder.
I'm kind of a 7400 guy myself.
I learn something new every day. Think we can believe anything else in this piece?
BTTT
The free traitors are outsourcing our rifles.
Wow. I should have hung onto that 700 BDL Custom Deluxe (NIB) I sold to a friend of mine. Could be a collectors item down the road.
They took over (some) Russian shotguns from EAA I think, who have also dropped the importation of the Saiga rifles.
RE:#7. In part, yes. However, failure of Congress to move promptly to protect gun manufacturers from frivolous lawsuits, a hostile-anti-gun environ (NY), as well as "anti" Congress people from state of NY play a part in this move as well.
Would not the rifle say "Made in Russia"?
This is just weak marketing.
To post #10 I would add union $ and benefits as further motivator for Rem. to move offshore.
Well, there's your problem. Fix it in 2007. Kill the union. Unions must die.
The 7400 is the autoloader. They also make a pump version called the 7600. I have a 7600 myself.
that and anti gun and anti hunting laws in New York...
Yeah, that's how it starts. Been there, done that.
"They're looking at what will help stockholders," Zaffarano said. "They're only looking for what will jingle in their pockets. They don't care about our jobs, our insurance, our pension, the community, or anything else. Those things don't make their pockets jingle."
When their grinning big shot gives John F-in' Kerry an autoloading Remington 1100 while the cameras are rolling, I figure the UMW doesn't care about my rights, my freedoms, my country or anything else. Those things don't make a union boss' pockets jingle.
Another common sentiment is that seeing the Russian manufacturer referred to as "skilled artisans" was like a slap in the face.
"We've put years into this company," Pritchard said. "We've been doing this since, what, 1816? Yet the new guys in Russia are the skilled craftsmen and we're just workers."
Pritchard, if you've been on the job since 1816, you are one experienced dude. I've bought a few Remingtons over the years, and I'll go out on a limb and bet that some of those Russian punks might be able to wax your ass in the craftsmanship department.
Brown said the UMWA is seeking support and help from state Sen. James Seward, Assemblyman Marc Butler and U.S. Rep. Sherwood Boehlert, who have all shown interest in and sympathy to employee concerns.
Sounds like a plan! Let the State of New York subsidize guns for everyone! Get your U.S. senators in on this one while you're at it.
Frankly, I'd be a skeptic if EAA is the contract manufacturer, since every EAA double gun I've seen has had an action that was poorly manufactured and tend to bind up or freeze alltogether.
It would be nice if US manufacturers could make a quality double gun for under $1000, and I'd be willing to pay a few hundred dollars more for a quality product.
Oh, this is going to hurt....
Whoever wrote this didn't know much about guns. The 700 is a rifle, and Remington doesn't make a bolt-action shotgun That I know of. I suspect remington is going to put their brand name on imported Russian side-by-side and over-under shotguns, some of whichare quite good quality and reasonably priced. I'd say they were expanding their product line, not stopping production of US-made guns.
Probably in print so tiny that you can barely see it.
IMHO, Remington is trying to do this very quietly in the hopes that nobody will notice.
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