From Seattle station KOMO:
Longtime Seattle manufacturer moving 100 jobs to Nevada
If you own outdoor recreational gear, there's a good chance you have something made at Cascade Designs.
The company manufactures MSR camping stoves, Platypus hydration packs, SeaLine dry bags, and Therma-A-Rest sleeping pads -- hundreds of products made by workers in Seattle. Those workers had a bombshell dropped on them Thursday.
The company based in Seattle's SODO district along 1st Avenue South is moving 100 jobs later this year to a new plant it's leasing near Reno, Nevada. That's 20 percent of the work force. Some employees have been offered positions, but others will have to reapply.
A bit more:
John Burroughs founded the company in 1972. His son David Burroughs is the Vice Chair and said Seattle's new minimum wage nudged them into action. Burroughs said, "We've got competitors that are working at $2 an hour."
While the company does have a plant in Ireland, Burroughs said the mission is to keep production in the United States. He said the $15 an hour minimum wage would eventually add up to a few million dollars a year.
More at the Washington Policy Center:
Business Closures Put a Face on the Real World Impacts of Minimum Wage Hikes
Last week the House Labor Committee passed HB 1355, legislation to increase the state’s minimum wage to $12.
Despite warnings from employers that the higher wage would harm the employment prospects for unskilled workers and dampen job creation, supporters testified the higher wage would have no adverse impact on employers or workers, and would boost our state’s economy.
Such claims not only turn the basic law of economics on its head, they ignore the devastation that is already occurring in other cities and states that have increased their minimum wages. <
Idiots. Politicians. But I repeat myself...
