Today, as I was getting my mother's walker, I noticed the Invacare tag on it. However, I also noticed that the tag read: Made in China. Invacare outsourced their jobs and Kasich, as a member of the board of directors, signed off, and gave permission for those jobs to leave Ohio and move to China.
In an article from the Chinaresourcenetwork, and published in the Plain Dealer in 2005, we learn that a little about the Chinese workers in an Invacare plant in Suzhou, China:
....The factory makes oxygen concentrators, which remove gases from the air so they can pump nearly pure oxygen to someone who has breathing difficulties.
About 140 people are involved in the process, from the salaried department heads to the 110 production workers who earn about 1,500 to 2,000 yuan, or $185 to $250, per month.
A mid-level professional might make three times the production wage...
China isn't the only country that has gotten jobs from Invacare. The Bellwetherdaily had this little ditty from Invacare's CEO:
...And here's Malachi Mixon, chairman of Invacare Corp., near Cleveland. Kasich is on Invacare's board of directors. The company moved Ohio jobs to China, a fact that Mixon confirmed in a Jan. 31, 2008 inveterview with The Plain Dealer:
"Q: How difficult was the decision to move production to China?Invacare CEO Mixon: 'It wasn't difficult because it's about survival. [and] We realized we simply couldn't compete from America. You can take virtually any product made in Cleveland, make it in China, ship it back here and pay the freight for probably about 25 percent lower cost.' Invacare CEO Mixon said his Ohio labor costs were about $14 an hour; "And China, 50 cents."
Kasich joined the Invacare Board of Directors in 2001. In the first debate, Republican Kasich said, "We haven't lost jobs to China." I guess all those jobs that Kasich and Invacare outsourced are just figments of our imaginations.
