Eastern Railroad Discussion > How busy is GE @ Erie PA vs FT Worth?

What percentage of units are made @ ERIE?

Following at least two walkouts at Erie, GE moved  several locomotive construction orders to Fort Worth for fulfillment.  And reduced employment in Erie proportionately.

That would suggest Erie is near its operational capacity level.

Remember GE and CAT are big union busters.  GE would like to close Erie and CAT shut down London completely.

The company has issues with work stoppages, refusal to work overtime,
and general slowdowns.  The union has issues with part shortages.
Real story probably somewhere in between.

But, 60 locomotives worth of production shifting to Ft Worth, plus additional
farmouts, are the apparent result.

I did not realize that London is still going? What is made in Canada?

nygiant Wrote:
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> Remember GE and CAT are big union busters.  GE
> would like to close Erie and CAT shut down London
> completely.

Nothing in London-the plant is long dead.

Cats hand made a clean sweep in London!

Mike Bannon
St Catharines, ON

Yes, after asking for impossible concessions and then blaming the union for the pull out after it had been planned anyway.
algoma11 Wrote:
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> Nothing in London-the plant is long dead.
>
> Cats hand made a clean sweep in London!

The union saw the handwriting on the wall, regardless of what they did CAT had no intention of leaving the plant open.
Might as well be like the condemned man and ask for steak as your last meal.

Cat took $40 an hour jobs in Canada and got the work done for $18-20 in Muncie-simple enough formula!!!!

Next will be Muncie to Mexico at 500 pesos a day-good coporate citizens those CAT guys!
 

Mike Bannon
St Catharines, ON

algoma11 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The union saw the handwriting on the wall,
> regardless of what they did CAT had no intention
> of leaving the plant open.
> Might as well be like the condemned man and ask
> for steak as your last meal.
>
> Cat took $40 an hour jobs in Canada and got the
> work done for $18-20 in Muncie-simple enough
> formula!!!!
>
> Next will be Muncie to Mexico at 500 pesos a
> day-good coporate citizens those CAT guys!
>  

I've been reading about the NAFTA treaty which made a lot of these cross border deals easier to do. Reduced trade barriers, and largely eliminated "trade weighting" where imports and exports had to balance out in jobs and income.  Treaties and trade agreements always have special deals or incentives hidden in them, sometimes in plain sight.

Decades ago, US car manufacturers could make cars in Canada and ship them to the US. But the number / % of cars sold in Canada had to include an offsetting number of cars from the US or penalties would be due.  Same thing with locomotives.