Echoes of New Britains Past ~ Removal of Stanley Works Steam Whistle ~ Andy Trykowski, Stanley Works Employee. This famous whistle was heard for decades throughout New Britain at the stroke of noon. It was the music that made New Britain dance the polka of prosperity. But when that whistle fell silent the music died. But the memory of its shrill voice still echoes in our hearts today. Photo courtesy of New Britain Herald. Historic narrative courtesy of goiam.org: Info Link: goiam.org/publications/spring2002_journal/revitalizing.htm Stanley Works Moves 1200 New Britain Jobs to China One glance tells you, this is a classic New England factory town. The streets of New Britain, Connecticut are lined with block after block of massive mills, built with brick, iron and hewn oak beams. Victorian mansions where the factory owners once lived peer down on triple-decker tenements and the neatly maintained, single-family houses of the working and middle class. New Britain was a center of American manufacturing –– a position the “Hardware City” proudly held since 1754. The city motto says it all: “Industry fills the hives and enjoys the honey.” But the “honey of industry” is gone now, gone to China and Mexico. And the mills stand silent and empty: great walls of faded brick and rows of dusty windows stare out at a city that is dying. The Stanley Works, founded in 1843, is New Britains oldest and best-known company. Stanley Hand Tools –– with products ranging from saws and hammers to chisels and measuring tapes –– came to symbolize the “do-it-yourself” spirit of Yankee ingenuity. Stanley’s rugged brass hinges, doorknobs and locks were the very image of American quality and durability. But no more. “All the jobs at Stanley are leaving, going to China and Mexico,” explains Donald D’Amato, president of IAM Local 1433. “My job was eliminated November 30 –– four days after I completed my 43rd year with the Stanley Company. “Its not because they aren’t making money. They want to make more money,” said D’Amato. “The CEO told us, as long as the government allows them to go offshore and make things cheaper and make more profits, that’s what they are going to do. “We used to have 10,000 IAM members here in New Britain working at Stanley, Emhart, Fafnir Bearings, New Britain Machine, Tuttle and Bailey, Landers, Frary & Clark” said D’Amato. “It used to be if you got laid off from one place you could go get a good-paying job somewhere else. But nowadays, theres nowhere left to go. Most of those shops are gone. The Hardware division, the original core of Stanley, that’s all over in China now. That was 1,200 jobs.” “I’m Steward for myself, now!” said Andy Trykowski, gesturing at the bare walls and concrete floor of the former tool room. “I came here in 1993 from Fafnir Bearing, after they closed down and moved their work to China. There were 6,000 people working at Fafnir. I was the Shop Chairman for the Skilled Trades and I actually had to help negotiate the closing,” he says. “What Ill always remember is hearing that whistle blow on the Stanley boiler house, every noon, like clockwork. It was so loud. So powerful!” said Trykowski. “I lived a mile away but it sounded like it was blowing right in my back yard. I helped take down that whistle last month.” “If everything is made in China or Mexico, where are the middle-class people going to go?” Trykowski asks. “If the factory jobs go, the office jobs go, too. And so do the management jobs. I wonder how many of them have figured that out?”
Posted on: Wed, 14 Jan 2015 21:03:18 +0000
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