So You Want Jobs in Smalltown! Well, think about .....
When an employer withdraws from a community to move somewhere else, it usually stirs the pot of local thinking and recrimination. In our world today, employers are generally free to move out of any spot on the sphere to any other spot, regardless of nationality.
With such geographic volatility, we can well ask for details of the reasoning for the move. Often we will not get it. Such reasons can include everything from under-the-table payoffs to childhood preferences. Most of these cannot be dealt with in any straight forward manner.
But there are a few categories of reasons for the locational confusion that are both understandable and attackable. I have seen many of these in my searches around the North America. Interestingly, almost all of these are vulnerable, at least in part, to the work of the Church.
Let me list just a few. Available sites. Tax incentives. Local educational institutions and networks. Transportation. Community psychology and social preferences issues, such as ethnic biases, caste biases and wealth biases. Probably the most frequent motivation for moving from low income communities is problems with the labor force. A great example of this is the removal of the wiring harness plant at Fayette, Mississippi, by General Motors some thirty years ago.
GM cited many problems ranging from worker illiteracy to absenteeism and theft. Off the record, some GM staffers spoke of the rising tide of worker rebellion and even a fear of violence toward whites. Many of these fears were well founded, but could, even in recent years, been dealt with appropriately.
In the area of the existing and potential labor force, there are many issues. Skill levels, both current and attainable. Numbers of potential workers with needed skills and attitudes. Strength of local social institutions such as churches, libraries, athletic teams, fraternal organizations, business organizations, medical facilities, etc.
Perhaps the most critical issue that demands the attention of the Church itself, in all its forms, is the matter of worker attitude and relationships. As I have traveled around the nation I have seen case after case of employee problems that have affected the stability of the business. Sometimes workers have a lot of family relationship issues that impact the job. Sometimes community history changes the way people think of each other and the job. And so on.
One of the toughest examples of this issue is the matter of how workers feel toward the work itself and their responsibilities toward the business. Many, many times I have spoken with workers who believed their first responsibility on the job was to themselves. Many have told me of great friction between themselves and their employers that related to the worker understanding of personal loyalty to the company.
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