At the end of last month, the folks in Bend (well, those of them who hadn’t been paying attention) were stunned by the news that Cessna was closing its manufacturing plant here and laying off its last 200 workers.
Turns out, though, that Cessna had been planning to close the Bend plant all along. At least that’s how The Eye reads the comment by Cessna spokesman Doug Oliver in yesterday’s Bulletin.
Oliver told Bulletin reporter Keith Chu that Cessna already was shifting some of the manufacturing to Chihuahua, Mexico, and would have moved it all there if the drop in business because of the recession hadn’t made it necessary to shut down entirely.
“It was in the process of happening when the decision was made to close plant,” Oliver said. “That was always the plan – to move work where we had facilities to better do the work.”
Not to mention workers to do it more cheaply.
Needless to say, although it “was always the plan” to ship Bend’s jobs south of the border, Cessna officials didn’t say anything about it when they talked the city into spending $1.5 million on an airport expansion or when they were demanding that it spend another bundle on a tower for the airport. (The city would’ve done it, too, if the move hadn’t been blocked by a 2-1 vote of the Deschutes County Commission. Thank you, Commissioners Dennis Luke and Tammy Baney.)
The Cessna story beautifully illustrates how a big corporation can blow into a town and play the local yokels for suckers – and why it’s important to include clawback provisions in any future contracts with companies that come here waving promises of family-wage jobs in return for tax breaks and other goodies.
This article appears in May 14-20, 2009.
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Good ol boy Dennis Luke has put a monkey wrench into every and any bigger enterprise which offered better wages and benefits for locals. He wants to control the area and please the other good ol boys so they can run a monopoly on the low pay and no benefits for employees as that is why he is voted in by his good ol boy buddies.
Dennis Luke has done more to stagnate development in this area than any single person in Bend history. He however supports big illegal land use projects such as the Gucci developments. It is clear he is all for a business he can make some money off of, but not to support working families in this area.
Dennis Luke does not grasp the idea that a company like Cessna is a global company which takes the path of least resistance and instead of trying to convince hillbillies shuts down the plant and moves it as it is cheaper and there are a ton of areas begging for jobs and invite in an employer like Cessna to support their local economies. Dennis would much rather see them leave so his buddies can continue to pay below poverty wages and no benefits to hard working Americans.
Our same two whiz kids, Tamey and Dennis voted out one of the bigger green energy manufacturers and told this company ” Well we have looked at your proposal, but Bend does not really need any more blue collar jobs” so they got up and left the table as they also had invites from a dozen towns in Oregon and were welcomed with open arms.
Surely Bend has great home prices and the interest rates are at an all time low however there are no jobs to support working families. I guess Dennis and Tammy have been spending too much time with the retired jet set that they forgot about the “blue collar people”
Cessna is and will always be one of the best employers to have come into this area. Duke and Baney will continue to chase out these jobs to make sure Bend stays with the mantra of “poverty with a view” as long as they can and will gladly support those who patronize them
The people who refused to see this coming were elected by organizations and other parties whose interest were served by the illusion the Cessna takeover created–Bend is vital, continuing to ‘grow,’ and a great investment for the common man.
Poverty: Did you comprehend the post at all? Did you even read it? Cessna now admits “it was the plan all along” to MOVE THE BEND MANUFACTURING OPERATIONS TO MEXICO. Building the airport tower wouldn’t have made a damn bit of difference.