ON WALL STREET: The World Economic Forum heard many complaints last week that globalisation was unfairly tilted in America's favour, writes Conor O'Clery
But consider how globalisation affects some working people and communities in the US. Take for example the town of Litchfield in rural Connecticut.
Litchfield, population 8,500, was first settled by English families in 1721, and is popular with tourists for its old village green and quaint houses with white paint and black shutters. It has a tavern called the Sheldon that dates back to 1760, as well as antique shops and art galleries full of first-class local work.
Guns for the revolutionary war were made in Litchfield, but in more recent times the main business of any size has been the B/E Aerospace factory, located on Route 202, two miles from the green. The plant, which manufactures airplane seats and interiors, has been there as long as anyone can remember.
It is a model factory, winning quality awards from Airbus and Boeing, and a source of pride for its 380 workers, people like Tom Rogers (63), who has driven to the factory every morning for 40 years, and Andy Sewell (50), who can put together 50 seat backs in a day with four other people.
In exactly three weeks, the B/E Aerospace factory in Litchfield will close permanently. The Florida headquarters of the company decided it was cheaper to make the airplane seats outside the US. It is shifting production to Northern Ireland, to its plant in Kilkeel, Co Down.
This act of globalisation is a mortal blow to the New England town, and to outlying hamlets where smaller companies made parts for the seats.
The maximum severance pay is 13 weeks' wages, and workers who earned $16-$22 (€18.45- €25.37) an hour are faced with the prospect of flipping hamburgers for $6 an hour.
The day the news broke, the plant manager called the whole factory together, said a parts expediter who had worked there for 21 years. When he said the company had decided to close the plant, "there were tears in his eyes and he had a hard time speaking; we all started crying".
The trickle-down effect will be huge. The town has few large commercial taxpayers and most of the tax burden will be shifted to homeowners.
"I'd like to think that we'll have no trouble replacing B/E with another company," said First Selectman Mr Jerry Zinn. "But I'm an optimist."
"It's unfortunate because it's a global market and it is terribly devastating for those who lose their jobs, the hard-working people of small towns like Litchfield," said Ms Diane Blick, owner of the Business Centre, which sells office and computer supplies.
"The people I grew up with, the parents of people I know, are all losing their jobs at once, and it's echoing through town," she told me.
"Both my parents worked there. My dad relocated here in 1961 to work in B/E. He retired as head of the sales department. My brother and I grew up hearing stories about his travels. He went to Australia, and to Kilkeel."
B/E Aerospace blamed the downturn in air travel for its restructuring, which will close five plants and reduce the workforce by 1,000 to 3,650.
"The US airline industry is experiencing severe financial distress in the wake of the September 11th terrorist attacks," said company president Mr Robert J. Khoury at the time.
"This has significantly reduced demand for our aircraft cabin interior products."
"Kilkeel already has a very efficiently operated factory making first class and business class seats and it is now going to manufacture coach class seats," Mr Max Kuniansky, director of investor relations at B/E Aerospace Florida headquarters, said yesterday. He said that, obviously, whatever incentives Kilkeel had to offer were an important factor.
The closure announcement, on October 23rd, coincided with a submission to B/E Aerospace in Florida of a multimillion pound package of incentives by the NI Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment and the Industrial Development Board, on the orders of Minister Sir Reg Empey, to save the 320 jobs at the Kilkeel plant.
Details of the NI package were kept secret in case the State of Connecticut put together a better offer. Whether they did or not, many people in Litchfield believe that B/E Aerospace wanted to close the plant for a long time to relocate abroad, and that September 11th just provided the excuse.
One local business affected is Franklin Products, which makes specially-treated foam for airplane seat cushions.
Company president Mr Bruce Swomley said that the events of September 11th and the closure of the Litchfield factory meant reducing the workforce from about 90 to 75. He does business with other B/E Aerospace plants, however, and with Kilkeel - which he has visited and calls a "really beautiful place".
"From my conversations I hear that some folks are moving away to other B/E Aerospace locations," he said. "I don't think there is any resentment of Ireland however. We have a great affinity with the Irish here. But there's always going to be a sadness when a company closes."
