In Taunton, Mass.: Use of Eminent Domain to protect local assets against outsourcing
A report on interesting forms of municipal and worker’s resistance in the U.S., using the legal doctrine of Eminent Domain:
By Roger Bybee:
” Workers in places like Taunton, Mass. are continuing their struggles at the grass-roots level against the destruction of America’s productive base and its dwindling supply of good jobs.
In Taunton, members of United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers Local 204 have been taking on Esterline Technologies, a Bellevue, Washington aerospace firm, which plans to move about 100 jobs to a non-union plant in California and an even lower-wage plant in Tijuana, Mexico. The Taunton plant, which makes silicone gaskets for aircraft, has been consistently profitable and productive, yet Esterline is in a rush to sell off the plant’s equipment and get production rolling in the other facilities.
Esterline had originally promised the workers that it would give them the right of first refusal on the plant’s equipment, as the UE sought to pursue either running the operation on their own or as a subsidiary of another firm. But Esterline reneged when the union demanded that the company adhere to the UE-Esterline contract and Massachusetts law on closing the plant.
So despite $119.8 million profits last year, Esterline announced that it needed to sell off the machinery to cover the cost of severance payments. It quickly announced plans for a Dec. 12 auction to dispose of the equipment.
But Local 204 responded on two fronts. First, the UE took action to halt the auction. It persuaded elected officials like US Rep. Barney Frank, state legislators and the City Council to request that Esterline delay the auction until at least Feb. 15.
The union also alerted unionists throughout New England about Esterline’s plans to destroy the workers’ dreams of saving their jobs and to head for the repressive low-wage paradise of Mexico as rapidly as possible. Facing both the pressure from the elected officials and the prospect of a large rally of militant unionists furious about more jobs going off to Mexico, the company announced a delay in the auction until Jan. 19.
Second, the city of Taunton is moving ahead—with unanimous support from the City Council and mayor—to pursue the use of “eminent domain” to seize the machinery of Esterline Technologies’ local plant if necessary. The city will also need the support of the Democratically-controlled Maassachusetts Legislautre, which reconvenes in January.
“Eminent domain” is a doctrine under which private property may be taken, with compensation, by governmental units for a compelling public purpose. While often used by huge corporations to raze neighborhoods for new factories that could be located elsewhere, this time the UE and the Taunton City Council are preparing to use eminent domain against Esterline.
In the scope of things, the fight in Taunton is one small battle at a time when at least 15 million are unemployed. But the fierce determination of the UE Local 204 members represents a total rejection of all the messages from corporate, political and media elites that working people must simply “get used to it” when CEOs decide to send their jobs off to Mexico or China in search of even greater profits.”
January 8th, 2011 at 4:59 pm
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January 19th, 2011 at 5:01 pm
Eminent domain is one of the few measures available to the working people confronting deindustrialization in the US. It has been used to build schools, libraries, parks, stadiums; it must now be used to protect America from deeper unemployment. Companies have an obligation to their communities after years of feeding at the trough of public tax breaks and subsidies and substandard wages. It can appeal to all sides of the political spectrum because it puts jobs, jobs, jobs on the front burner.