Shame on Businesses Who Think Only of the Money!

My heart sank when I learned today that the small town of Neillsville, WI is losing another of their employers. This will be affect ing some 130 workers but layoffs will only be around 15 per months rather than all at once. Either way, Mayor Diane Murphy calls the move an "economic punch to the city's gut." Understandably, emotions are even more frayed upon learning the plant is closing because the company is relocating to Mexico where competitors are already operating.

The mayor remains optimistic, however, point out that about 200 jobs were lost when Fleetguard-Nelson Muffler relocated in 2004, but by 2007 another corporation bought and opened a manufacturing business on the empty site. Thankfully there are businesses wanting to move into the Neillsville area.

The parent company, Regal Beloit Corporation, will begin layoffs this summer. While there will be offers to relocate with the company, how many people are going to want to uproot their families and move to Mexico? I would expect very few to go that route.

I have a degree in accounting and my father was a small business owner all of his life. The trend to close shop in America and re-open in Mexico, China or any of the other countries in which operating a business is far cheaper, is understandable, but reprehensible at the same time. The word loyalty has all but been removed from the English language.

This trend rings true to the phrase repeated every New Years Eve, "Out with the old, in with the new!" It's just sad that the "new" in this case means layoffs, moves and the disruption of families.