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UAW Chief: Lear Jobs Headed To Mexico

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By MICHAEL SASSO

The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 12, 2008

TAMPA - Auto parts manufacturer Lear Corp. plans to relocate much of the work now being done at its Tampa manufacturing plant to Mexico and China, according to the president of the local United Auto Workers chapter.

Richard Neal, president of UAW Local 2405 in Tampa, had no documentation to back up his charge, but said Lear managers have told him such in conversations. Also, Lear appears to have a history of moving work from Tampa to Mexico. Federal government documents show that Lear shifted some work from its Tampa plant to Northern Mexico last spring.

A spokeswoman for Lear, Andrea Puchalsky, could not be reached for comment Thursday. A day earlier, Puchalsky said she had no information on whether the work done in Tampa would be relocated elsewhere.

Southfield, Mich.-based Lear on Monday broke news to its employees that it will scale back work at its West Waters Avenue manufacturing plant starting in March, and it will shut the plant by September of next year. In a memo to Tampa employees, Lear said the "dire economic conditions" in the auto industry are forcing it to restructure and cut costs. The company is a major parts supplier to Detroit's Big Three automakers. The shutdown will cause 325 workers to lose their jobs.

Neal, who works at Lear, charges that the upcoming plant closure has more to do with the low wages paid in Mexico and China than it does with Lear's economic challenges. The average worker at the Tampa plant earns about $13 an hour, Neal said. It isn't clear what Lear would pay its Mexican workers, but Mexican wages are considerably lower than American wages.

According to a June Associated Press article, autoworker wages in Mexico are falling as the country tries to stay competitive with lower-wage China. Some auto plants in Mexico offer wages starting at $1.50 an hour, although other manufacturing jobs pay as much as $6 an hour. Mexico's minimum wage law requires that employers pay workers a minimum of $5 a day, the AP reported.

Neal says Lear managers in Tampa have told him that some of the work done at the Tampa plant will be shifted to a facility near Monterrey, Mexico, while other work will be moved to Shanghai. The Tribune couldn't independently verify his claim.

However, in a previous job reduction, Lear announced in April that it would be cutting 108 jobs at its West Waters Avenue plant. At least some of those jobs appear to have been moved to Mexico, according to federal documents. The U.S. Department of Labor investigated the April layoffs and qualified the Tampa workers for federal job training and financial assistance under a program that assists American workers laid off because of foreign trade.

Reporter Michael Sasso can be reached at msasso@tampatrib.com or (813) 259-7865.

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