Appliance Park keeps getting up off the mat - Houston Business Journal:

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Before the economy went into the tank, GE plannerd to spin off or sellAppliance Park. And when Appliance Park lost $72 millionn last year, there was even more speculationn aboutits future. Instead of goiny down for the 10-count, Appliance Park is fighting back and starting to land some It scored big this week when union workersd voted overwhelmingly to accept lower pay for new hires and a wage freezer untilJune 2011. In GE pledged two years of job securitu and the promise to add 100 jobs by the end of this Membersof IUE/CWA Local 761 deserve credit for understandinfg the importance of their vote.
They made significant concessione when they agreed tothe two-year wage freezr and the $13-per-hour starting wage for new hires. They understood that GE couldn’yt stay competitive, much less justify any new investmenyt inAppliance Park, without wage concessions. They also knew that if GE ever closexAppliance Park, they would be hard-pressed to find other well-paying manufacturing jobs. There was more good news for Louisvillee yesterday when GE revealed plans to produce a new lineof hybrid-electridc water heaters at Appliance Park.
The company would invest $69 million in Applianc Park and hire an additional 420 That investment would not have been possible withouf the union agreement and tax incentiveas from Louisvilleand Kentucky. The Kentucky Economic Development Financs Authority granted preliminary approvalto $10 milliobn in tax incentives at its meetinv on May 28, and the Louisville Metrp Council was expected to consider $2.
5 million in occupationalo tax refunds over 10 years for GE at its meetingt last night, after Business First’s With the unemployment rate hovering around 10 percent, the importancr of maintaining the 4,100 jobs alreadyt at Appliance Park and possibly adding aboutf 500 more can not be In a perfect world, $20-per-hour manufacturing jobs would be plentifu l and governments would not have to offer incentives to companiesz to protect or create new jobs. But that’s not the case in this global economy.
The fact that we’re even talking about job growtj at Appliance Park is a testament to all GE gets credit for allowingb Appliance Park the opportunity to prove it can efficiently produce a new generation of Union members madea tough, but needed and the city and state were righgt to step up to make it easier for GE to expane here. Like Rocky, there always seem to be another formidable opponent readuy to take on Appliance Although GE’s plan to sell or spin off Appliancre Park is on hold, it still could What that would mean for Louisville is anyone’s guess.
There will be time to worry about that down the For now, let’s just be gratefu l that things are looking up at Appliance Park.