Number of full fashioned knitting mills liquidated and constructed in the Year Num- Num- Net Num- Num- Net Num- Num- Net ber STATEMENT OF JOHN G. THOMAS, TEXTILE WORKERS UNION OF AMERICA, AFL-CIO, CUMBERLAND (AND ALLEGANY COUNTY), MD. Allegany County, Md., despite all protestations to the contrary, continues to be a depressed area. This condition has persisted for almost a decade now. The human suffering and economic loss involved in this long, dreary period of unemployment and underemployment is not apparent to the person who walks up and down our principal business streets of Cumberland-our principal city. Nor do official statistics give anything like a complete or revealing picture of what has been happening to the human beings in our community as a result of the prolonged economic illness from which we have been suffering. No amount of glib selfdeluding sales talk can cover up the hard fact that people have suffered, continued to suffer and that business has been seriously hurt by the curtailment of employment in our biggest local plants. Certainly, there have been some ups and downs in our employment and business life in these years; but the fundamental fact is that the deficit of jobs persists and the community shrinks instead of enjoying a reasonably normal growth. If any of us thought that this situation would correct itself or that purely local action would bring about a genuine cure, surely those ideas should have changed by now. If there are those who profess to believe that this depressed condition of our local economy can be remedied without Federal legislation along the lines of the Douglas bill, these persons must be suffering from a severe form of mental astigmatism. The bare fact that Allegany and Garrett Counties are the only two counties in Maryland which have declined in population since 1950 should by itself demonstrate that there is something radically wrong in these areas. And when the situation persists for over 10 years it is not just a passing phase or some slight difficulty that can be easily thrown off or remedied. There has been a fluctuating outmigration of people from the county for some years now. It must be pointed out, however, that some of those who leave to get jobs in the automobile or aircraft plants have been forced to return to their old homes here every so often because these persons having little or no seniority in the plants to which they go are invariably the first to be caught in the periodical layoffs which occur in the automobile or related factories. There is a local joke in Cumberland about the fact that so many families or breadwinners from the Cumberland area have happened to locate in Pontiac, Mich. Because so many of these individuals were originally from Lonaconing in Allegany County that the particular neighborhood in Pontiac where this group have settled is now known as "Little Lonaconing." According to data obtained from the local office of the Maryland Department of Employment Security, these are the essential facts of our local situation: A year ago (July 1956) the total labor force in Allegany County was estimated to be 41,300. At that time the unemployed were estimated to be 5,500 or about 13.6 percent. The total of those actually employed (including the nonseasonal agricultural workers) was estimated to be 35,800. Today there are more persons unemployed than there were a year ago. Exaet figures on current unemployment are not immediately available but we can point to the fact that there has been a sharp dropoff in employment at the Celanese plant. The normal current payroll at Celanese is around 2,360. At present less than 2,000 are working. The Lonaconing plant of the General Textile Co. (a commission yarn mill) has closed down altogether. This plant employed at one time between 250 and 300 people, but it has gradually decreased its employment rolls in the last 2 years to a mere number which fluctuated between 40 and 50 employees and when it closed down completely the first week of this month (July) it had 30 employees on its payroll. We are not certain whether this shutdown will be permanent or not. But nobody is now working at this mill. Also there is some decrease in employment at the Kelly-Springfield tire plant. The Baltimore & Ohio Railroad just announced further furloughs among those employed in its shops here. The number of persons in the county in covered employment as of 1956 was 19,474 or 216 less than in 1950. This represents a decline of 1.1 percent between roughly equivalent dates in 1950 and 1956. Employment in mining and manufacturing jobs decreased by 13.2 percent in the decade. Miscellaneous and service employment dropped by 9.3 percent in the same period. The number of persons employed in construction increased by 97.4 percent as against 1950. On this last figure it should be pointed out, however, that the bulk of those engaged in construction jobs are working on the new $34 million Pittsburgh Plate Glass plant which will be completed within very few months with a consequent layoff of about 1,000 men on that 1 operation. It is a fact that between 400 and 500 new employees will be hired at the new glass plant when the construction job is finished, but in terms of net employ ment there will be 500 fewer people drawing paychecks in this area when the plant goes into full operation. In this connection the Members of Congress should be apprised of the fact that none of the older furloughed workers from Celanese or the other plants in the area are eligible for these new jobs at the glass plant. No matter how skillful or experienced or steady they may be, the hiring policy of Pittsburgh Plate Glass is to exclude persons above 35 years of age. There are some hopeful factors in the local situation which should, in fairness, also be cited. For instance, the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad has announced the expenditure of some 10 millions of dollars on a new marshalling yard. Cer tainly, that will mean some additional construction work but there is no knowing at this time whether, on the completion of this improved facility, there will be fewer regular employees or somewhat more. The West Virginia Pulp & Paper Co., while maintaining stable employment, has announced a slowing down of its plant-expansion program. Certain mechanical modernization projects at the Luke plant are being postponed for at least another year. The Allegheny Ballistics Laboratory, operated by the Hercules Powder Co. for the United States Navy Department now employs some 856 persons and has been taking on some additional persons and is expected to continue to do so in the coming months. The other side of the picture is this: It should be recalled that in 1946 employment at the Celanese plant was over 10,000. Today some 2,000 people at this same establishment produce probably 3 times the amount of rayon that was made by the large work force in 1946. Take this figure for instance: the spinning department at the plant today is producing over twice as much with a work force of 450 as it did previously with a complement of 1,000. In cellulose acetate department the figures are roughly a 300 percent increase in output. What has happened to all the people who used to have jobs at Celanese? Many, of course, have left the community permanently. One thing that this long depression in Cumberland has proven to us is that it is exceedingly difficult, and sometimes practically impossible, for families to just pick up and leave a place where they have lived most or all of their lives. People have family connections and responsibilities which tie them down; they may own houses or some other property which cannot be readily disposed of. Children cannot be taken out of schools overnight. Whatever the immediate reason, families can't pull up stakes without the greatest of difficulty no matter what happens to their jobs. By obtaining an old work roster from Celanese recently and doing a lot of checking, we have been able to establish the fact that some 1,500 of the furloughed or dismissed employees are now making their livings in a variety of miscellaneous jobs in and around Cumberland. Several of the men I know are working in gasoline stations for wages of around $5 a day and frequently put in a 7-day week to take home less than $35. Quite a few women who formerly were members of the Textile Workers Union of America now work in retail stores in Cumberland for wages of less than half they earned while in the factory. The wife of one of our local union officers is working in a shoe store in town for 67 cents per hour. These are typical instances and not isolated cases. We could cite many others of this kind if anyone would be interested. Cumberland is probably one of the oldest and most repeatedly studied depressed areas in the country. It has been spotlighted in several national surveys; its plight has been featured in headlines and then promptly forgotten for the next several years. The unions and other progressive elements in the community have made serious, determined, and patient efforts to relieve the chronic unemployment which has dogged us for so long. We have contributed money as long as we had any surplus funds in our treasuries to aid local efforts to attract new industries or to otherwise improve our economic prospects. The problem has not been solved. And while we hesitate to engage in controversies with those in our community who attempt to say that things are getting better, we must emphasize that the facts give the lie to the optimistic kind of publicity which is used to minimize the rather ugly situation which persists year after year. Some businessmen have insisted that all must be well because certain stores have done a large volume of business. We are happy to know that some stores are other local business concerns are doing all right. Against these few success stories we could offer dozens of cases where business has been hurt badly and continues to feel the harmful effects of unemployment and underemployment. What we do know is that heads of families come into our office every day with undeniable stories of distress and privation-of the difficulty of living decently on insufficient and uncertain wages. The overall outlook is not bright. Cumberland is a depressed area-that is the undeniable fact. To get us out of this situation we need and must have outside assistance such as long and bitter experience proves can only be had through congressional action. We urgently recommend adoption of the Douglas bill (S. 964). NORTH CAROLINA EMPLOYMENT SECURITY COMMISSION-LABOR RESOURCES IN NORTH CAROLINA FOR INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT1 This study of labor force deemed to be available in North Carolina counties for new or expanding industry is a regular bimonthly release. It is designed to give in general terms the location of sizable groups of labor residing in each county in the State. The total labor availability for a particular site usually requires consideration of the supply in adjacent counties or some portion of adjacent counties. These estimates must not be considered as solely a measure of the unemployed or of the registrants with the Employment Security Commission, for the scope of the survey goes beyond those groups actively seeking employment. They represent workers that the employment security office manager serving each county believes could be recruited in such county for one or more new or expanding local industries which pay wages and offer working conditions equal to or slightly better than the present industrial pattern of the county. In every county of the State it is known that potential industrial workers not now in the labor market (i. e., actively seeking employment) would become job seekers should more job opportunities exist. These workers would come from such groups as: (1) housewives that would join the labor force should Released July 15, 1957, by Bureau of Research and Statistics, Post Office Box 589, Raleigh, N. C. industry offer an opportunity providing wage scales or conditions of employment, more favorable than those now prevailing in the area; (2) workers now commuting to other areas, but who likely would choose local employment; (3) youths that are expected to join the labor force of the area; (4) handicapped workers and older employables not currently being absorbed by present industries; (5) minority groups that would readily accept regular employment; (6) new entrants from agriculture seeking industrial employment for the first time; and, (7) other smaller segments that are deemed available for industrial employment. Since the labor-supply estimates included in this study are general in nature, the North Caro.ina Employment Security Commission wishes to assure any interested industrial establishment or community group of its desire to furnish on a request basis more detailed labor-supply data for any specific area. |