By Mac-Z Zurawski – Local 1001 Member – LiUNA Women’s Caucus
On-shoring is not the economic stability factor the US has been looking for. It’s a false storm of low paid, unequal jobs that will exacerbate the employment tribulations for women in the Southern United States. Eventually, these low paid and disposable employment positions will infiltrate the rest of America. We must not expand the horrific numbers of already working poor.
The United States manufacturing sector was devastated with the loss of 6 million off-shored jobs throughout the 80’s and 90’s5. Those same jobs, almost 700,000 have returned through what we refer to as on-shoring5. Like an aftershock of a tsunami, that second wave returns to our shores with more destruction. The highly anticipated return of jobs from manufacturing to IT service professionals poses a greater obstacle to labor, especially for women. On-shored jobs are directed to the “right to work” Southern states where a higher percentage of women are historically paid less. According to Harvard Business Review, on-shore salaries are 35% lower than the average American salary due to their specific placement in the Southern states3. General Motors, a prime example of de-unionization devastation, brought 3,000 jobs back to America to manufacture a new Cadillac5. This manufacturing is in their Tennessee plant with no union and no benefits. These are examples of on-shoring’s false growth. If on-shoring continues to grow in “right to work” states the ability for women to work out of poverty, increase their health and attain educational opportunities will be detrimentally affected without increasing union organizing.