VW headquarters moves from Michigan to Virginia
“Volkswagen of America plans to announce today that it is moving its U.S. headquarters from Detroit to Herndon, Virginia, as part of a strategy to shore up its sagging auto business, The Washington Post reported today.
…
“The move is part of a corporate restructuring that would eliminate 400 positions, leaving 600 employees and contractors in Auburn Hills, Mich., outside Detroit, the newspaper reported.
The company said it would bring 400 jobs to Virginia and invest more than $100 million to set up operations in a new facility near Washington Dulles International Airport, the newspaper said.”
I heard on the radio that Jennifer Granholm (our governor, for the out-of-state folk) was going to talk to VW today; I believe talk is a euphemism for tearful pleading.
According to the radio this morning, Volkswagon said they were moving because they needed a “younger, more educated workforce.”
Considering the number of young, overly educated people I know who are out of a job I find that pretty hard to swallow. And d00d, GOOGLE just moved here, so apparently somebody thinks our workforce is plenty young & educated.
And as long as I am ranting (I seem to be in this mode the past few days), am I the only one who finds it utterly outrageous that “young” is even allowed to be a factor here? Is a highly educated workforce in their 40s something to turn up your nose at? Forget experience people, we want to know is how good you look in hot pants!
This just fucking sucks. How can the people who make these decisions sleep at night? They are virtually devastating the economy of an entire state and there seems to be no end in sight of the businesses doing this — Pfizer, Comerica, YOU NAME IT.
I personally blame the backwards anti-diversity legislation going on here. We’re gaining a reputation as a ignorant, backwards state and companies just don’t want to stay here. I have no idea how big corporations make the big decisions that they do. I mean, maybe they are having trouble finding “right-qualified” people. Maybe the tax structure is problematic. BLARGH. I’m rambling. I’m gonna go have a martini.
You know, perception counts for an awful lot, and in case you haven’t heard, we have a “Countdown to Chaos”, meaning people are expecting our entire state to crumble into the great lakes the moment our state congress comes back into session.
It’s true that our state is getting older, and that our best minds are moving away (at least anecdotally true, for me). Still, I seriously doubt that is the reason. They told auto-industry insiders that they’re doing it because it puts them closer to the people actually buying their cars (in other words, blaming MI for buying from the big three).
As far as wanting a younger work force, they want it because people with less experience expect less pay. I don’t really want to think what that will mean for VW’s quality, though.
I hate to say it, because I was born and raised here, but I think, as a whole, we deserve our reputation for being a backwards, ignorant state. I -do- think we’re heading in the wrong direction, and I -am- one of the people who is looking outside the state for my next job. It makes me sad to do so, because this is where most of my closest friends are, but there you have it.
I’m unhappy that they’re moving away, but I can’t blame them when I’m considering it, myself.
It’s this insane vicious cycle, right? I mean, smart, talented people are leaving the state in droves to find decent jobs. And employers are leaving the state because all of the talented people are gone. At some point, somebody’s gotta make an ethical decision and say “fuck it, we’re staying here.” Regarding employers, I mean, I live in Ann Arbor, so I see people with Masters Degrees working at the video store. I really fail to believe that good hire-ees aren’t here. In this case it’s gotta be more the egg than the chicken.
And the political climate is just sickening — but I don’t see anyone making the connection. I mean, when I opened the Ann Arbor news and saw a big spread with the passage of Proposal 2 (ending affirmative action) on one side and the impact of Pfizer’s withdrawal on the other, nowhere did I see a lightbulb going off for ANYone. I wish I had some hard evidence that linked the two, but to be honest I really don’t. I wish I could prove to people that this economic devastation is much more the wages of discrimination and oppression than the fallout of people buying Toyotas, but I can’t.
GAH. I’m ranting again. Maybe I should cut back on the caffeine. :)
Heh, the flist is terribly boring this morning – please, rant away. :D
You just don’t get a job “cold” these days. If you don’t know someone, you’ll be edged out by someone who does.
All of my friends who are discovering great jobs for themselves are finding them outside the state. Inside the state, everyone is cutting jobs. I agree, it’s a self-perpetuating problem – the most valuable people will find themselves in a less risky position earliest, unless they have family to tie them here.
And when it gets bad enough, they’ll take them along, too.
Unless they’re upside down in their mortgage.
When I come back, I intend on bringing jobs.
I shit you not.
Plans are vague currently, but I am not giving up on Michigan.
gawd! would the last one out of Michigan please turn out the lights? I just can’t believe the mass exodus.
Dude that sucks. It’s like every time Kodak announces lay offs, that usually means my home town is gonna be fucked in some way. I feel the pain of the area/state!
The ass-kicking came when the big 3 announced massive layoffs. This is just salt on the wound.
Suckage :(
Pfizer was the one that really made my blood run cold. That it is a company that is totally non auto industry related and still bolted said an awful lot about big business’ perception of the state.
You know, two years ago, even a year ago, I would have said “People just need to take an ethical stand and stay in the state, be entrepreneurs and whatnot- stop the cycle, get it going the other way.” Now? It’s really, really hard to be ethical when you need to put food on the table and you’re getting *far* more enticing job offers/staring at *far* better entrepreneurship opportunities out of the state. And when you look around, there’s a lot of poorly-skilled workforce, or skilled-in-the-wrong-area workforce. You can cry Google all you want, but VW needs a different skillset. Pfizer left behind (some of) a workforce with a much different skillset. The best thing Michigan can do for itself right now (as a State) is improve its educational system, top-to-bottom, but it has no funding to do so, because it has no jobs, because it has a non-skillset-diverse (not a word, I know, hush you!) workforce.
Tearful pleading is about all JG can do at this point. She can’t raise taxes, there’s no money. Funding schools is politically difficult, even at the best of times, with as much talk of mismanagement as there always is, and the separation of those levels of government/administrative systems. She can’t cut business taxes, both because she can’t afford to and because that’s simply not the deciding factor for most businesses- they need to overcome the workforce issue as well. Furthermore, if she’s looking to attract heavy industry, we need to have a functional infrastructure to support it, and ours is failing.
Bah.
Ouch. I agree with the other comments here. That totally sucks.
See, and Andy keeps trying to convince me that moving is fun and we should travel to other states and perhaps live there…. and I keep saying, the legislation in Massachusetts keeps MY BODY and MY MIND safe. No fucking way am I leaving this state. Mandatory health care, the right to marry whomever I choose, etc etc.
Anyway. I’m sad that MI is having trouble, and I’m sad that you’re leaving. I’d still like to visit there someday.
:( ugh. don’t think i’ll be buying another one of those then.
I’m curious because, much as I will appreciate the jobs coming to my area, I hope they don’t think they’re going to save money. The market for the kind of people they might want in this area keeps salaries nice and solid, what with all the nice government and contractor jobs. They’re generally well-educated and industrious too, but as you say there’s not much shortage of that where they are now. And property is expensive too.
I believe the comment they made to the industry itself is a little more on-target. Being near their customers is less expensive. Also, it’s easier to restructure (IE cut jobs) when you’re moving, and makes a fair excuse for doing so. They’re cutting nearly a third of their people – they’re sure to save some money that way, even if they pay more for the people they retain.
And frankly, I’m sure their PR people are too polite to say things like “Michigan is going down the tuuuubes! We’re running while we still can!”
My, how I look forward to moving out of state.
The auto industry is just depressing.
A massive change in representation needs to happen. In the government, idealists with experience in pragmatism need to be put in office. People who don’t want to be politicians. We need people who are stupid enough to care, and who are smart enough to actually want to solve problems.
We need companies to grow organically from small start-ups into larger companies. We need to avoid public offerings at all costs, because once that’s done, the ideals of the company do not matter. The corporation is legally required to do whatever is needed/possible to increase profit for the stockholders.
There’s more, but… With all of the other chaos in my life, I’m emotional already. Leaving the state is icing on this cake.
I wish there were a way to do another census count before 2010, because we need to be a smaller player in the next election. Especially since we are a smaller player. :(