Generation after generation in small towns in the South have earned a living thanks to textile plants, whether it was Avondale or Wehadkee.Both companies have provided good jobs to people like Pat Murphy for more than 100 years.
Like the thread used to produce the fabric made by family after family, the lives of these workers are interwined in the history of these mills.
Murphy and his family have spent decades working in the textile mill at Avondale in Sylacauga.
Murphy, a maintenance technician at Avondale Mills' Eva Jane Plant in Sylacauga has worked there for 36 years. His mother, Lorene Murphy, retired from Avondale after 44 years on the job.
Mark Tapley, executive vice president of Sylacauga's Avondale Mills, knows how important the textile industry is to small, Southern towns. Tapley grew up in Alexander City. His family, too, worked for Avondale. He has been with the company 36 years.
"We've got generations who have worked for us. They have been a blessing to Avondale. We have family after family who continue to work for us," Tapley said.
Murphy said Avondale is like part of "my family. I know everyone on my shift, how many kids they got and who they are."
He works on a variety of machinery and at one time thought about being a pilot. He has his pilot's license.
Instead, he went to work for Avondale in his early 20s.
"My family comes first, then my job," Murphy said. "The people I work with are like my brothers and sisters. We're a big family and all work at Avondale."
Textile crisis looms with CAFTA
But the future of the textile industry in the United States is unclear, especially when it comes to federal regulations.
Textile companies fear that unless elected officials in Washington address the real cause of losses, more manufacturing jobs will be lost and sent to Asia.
G. Stephen Felker Jr., manager of Corporate Development for Avondale Mills, said a new threat looms over the textile industry. That threat is the Central American Free Trade Agreement.
Ten years ago, the threat was the North American Free Trade Agreement. Avondale Mills found a way to survive NAFTA and was profitable.
"Avondale Mills Inc. has been an efficient producer of fabric and yarn for well over 100 years. With manufacturing facilities around the Southeast, including Alabama, our model for success continues to include a vested interest in the highly skilled and dedicated workforce found in the United States. With the inception of NAFTA approximately 10 years ago, many of our competitors quickly moved operations to Mexico," Felker said.
Avondale resisted this movement and is stronger as a result, he said.
"While wages south of the border were lower than within the United States, lower productivity and higher costs for critical elements such as power and water made Mexico less viable than many originally thought. Avondale saw some of its most profitable years while NAFTA was in effect," Felker said.
Today, the textile industry is facing a different and much more difficult situation.
"Unfair trade practices and apparent violation of World Trade Organization rules by countries such as China have put American manufacturing and the jobs it provides at great risk. To our dismay, since Avondale's acquisition of the Graniteville Company in 1996, we have had to eliminate over 2,000 jobs companywide, a significant number of which have been in Alabama. This includes those approximately 300 associates recently displaced by the closing of our weaving facility in Alexander City and our specialty yarn plant in Bon Air," said Felker
Now CAFTA is the threat looming over textiles and other manufacturing jobs.
CAFTA is a "free" trade agreement that includes the United States, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Honduras and Costa Rica. The Dominican Republic may also be added to the group. Negotiations for CAFTA were complete in December and January.
It must be approved by the national assemblies in each of the participating countries. The U.S. Congress could debate CAFTA in late spring or early summer.
Its modeled after NAFTA.
The Bush Administration has aggressively pursued the CAFTA negotiations on a very short timeline. NAFTA took more than seven years to negotiate.
Felker said CAFTA has been negotiated by U.S. trade representatives but does not favor American textile workers.
"Our associates have been working diligently writing letters to their senators and representatives on Capitol Hill asking them to do something to preserve the manufacturing jobs that remain and to vote against CAFTA when it comes before Congress. Still, we see no evidence that our voices are being considered within our government," he said.
According to a detailed analysis by the American Textile Manufacturers Institute, the proposed CAFTA agreement has loopholes that will benefit Asian, Canadian and Mexican textile workers at the expense of workers in the United States.
Most industry leaders are concerned with the Chinese, Tapley said.
"We are losing orders all across Alabama to China. Not just textiles but manufacturing jobs. I know of a ship maker in Mobile who has seen his business decline because of China. Our leaders have got to understand the difference between fair and free trade. China has no minimum wage, no environmental regulations or permits, no OSHA, no family medical leave issues or handicapped issues," he said.
Jobs lost
Jim Chesnutt, ATMI chairman and CEO of National Spinning Company, said the textile portion of CAFTA is loaded with side deals that give away U.S. jobs. The agreement, he said, will only contribute to the continuing decline in U.S. manufacturing jobs, particularly those in the textile industry.
In late January, leaders of the unified textile and fiber industry made retaining quotas on imports of unfairly subsidized imports of Chinese textile and apparel products the "make or break" political issue for the industry in the 2004 elections.
Almost one million people work in the U.S. textile, apparel and related industries section, including 722,000 nationwide who work directly in textile and apparel manufacturing.
Chesnutt said workers in this country are sick and tired of seeing the work formerly done in U.S. plants head to China.
Textile associations say the textile crisis in this country has been precipitated by a record breaking flood of illegally subsidized Chinese imports. Imports of textiles and apparel from China have increased by 320 percent in the past 24 months. Studies have shown that the removal of all remaining Chinese quotas will destroy the textile sector in the United States, causing the closure of 1,300 textile plants with 650,000 textile and apparel workers losing their jobs.
Since the last presidential election, according to the American Manufacturing Trade Action Coalition, the U.S. textile and apparel sector has lost 323,000 jobs, representing 31 percent of its workforce.
The statistics continue to bear out textile industry concerns.
According to ATMI, textile employment nationwide fell by 10 percent in 2003. Overall, more than one in every four textile jobs in the United States just 36 months ago has disappeared.
The industry lost 50,000 jobs by the end of 2003.
Also, over the past three years, at least 211 textile plants in the United States have been forced to shut their doors, including several in the area.
Felker pointed out that Avondale is not anti-CAFTA.
"In fact, our business depends upon the good will of our many yarn and fabric customers located in the Caribbean. We very much need access to a duty free needle trade in Central America. However, we need a CAFTA that does not destroy U.S. textile jobs. Right now we have duty free access to the region via the CBTPA (Caribbean Basis Trade Preference Act), but this expires in 2008. By that time we need a CAFTA agreement that favors U.S. textile workers," he said.
Avondale believes the CAFTA produced by the Bush Administration will be detrimental to the industry, "because it allows Asian textiles to be brought through Central America without paying any duties. This, coupled with the fact that China does not play by the rules of international free trade, makes the current version of CAFTA unfavorable to U.S. textile workers, Felker said. We hope that a different CAFTA will be negotiated, one that will favor U.S. textile jobs and still allow access to duty free needle trade south of our border."
Murphy and Tapley said they are concerned about the future for textiles.
"Job security is important. I don't like what our elected officials are doing with regulations when it comes to textiles. They're doing what we didn't want them to do. We want them to stand behind us. It's bad when they can ship their apparel over here. They want to pull our standards down to their standards. I believe our government can do more," Murphy said.
Tapley said the public needs to understand this is not just a textile issue but it affects manufacturing as well.
"Not a single state gained manufacturing jobs in a two-year period in this country. Even with the automotive jobs in Alabama, the state lost 11 percent of its manufacturing jobs," he said. "President Bush has got to do what he said in regards to appointing a manufacturing czar. This is a national, state and local issue."
Local impact
Tapley said the impact of Avondale locally is in the millions of dollars, from payroll to goods purchased by the company.
"The impact Avondale has in Sylacauga is something I don't think the public realizes. Avondale employs 1,253 people here and had a payroll in 2003 of $34 million. Most of those employees get their checks, go to the grocery store, hairdresser, barber, mechanic or whatever. The impact is great, from the small to large businesses, including millions of dollars to the city of Sylacauga. We're important to this community. It will not survive unless we survive. What's good for Avondale is good for the community," Tapley said.
he said the problem when it comes to trade regulations is that the Bush Administration has not been favorable to the textile industry.
While NAFTA was passed during the Clinton Administration, that agreement didn't hurt Avondale. "It hurt the cut and sew industry. We buy cotton and make two things, yarn and cotton. It then goes to the weavers and garment makers. Many companies took the cuts and sews south of the border. Avondale continues to make yarn and cotton and ships it to Mexico," Tapley said.
He said Avondale has never followed the leader. Instead, the company did what it thought was right by upgrading its facilities and staying in the southeastern United States.
But now, Tapley said, China is killing the industry.
"CAFTA isn't law yet. The textile industry can't support it the way it currently is written. It is giving aid to China. If it passes as it is, it will eliminate textile jobs in this country," he said.
Recalling the look in the eyes of employees who lost their jobs recently in one of the company's plants in Burnsville, N.C., Tapley said, "There is a lack of understanding from the top down. The president needs to renegotiate this agreement. Textiles can't support it as it is written. If it passes, jobs will be lost to China under the guise of Central America."
Avondale remains committed to its workforce, Felker said.
"Today, Avondale continues to earn favorable market consideration with our differentiated products, designed by the company and utilizing our unique capabilities. We have adjusted our manufacturing capacities in order to provide all of our associates with full running schedules and remain committed to our domestic workforce for producing quality textiles and yarn within the United States," he said.
