Kanosians at work

Illinois policy institute: Illinois;’ manufacturing meltdown is showing no signs of stopping.

Hoist Liftruck, a manufacturer of industrial forklifts, has announced plans to move more than 300 manufacturing jobs from Bedford Park, Illinois, to East Chicago, Indiana. The firm plans to add another 200 workers over the next few years. Hoist is the previously unnamed manufacturer that made headlines a month ago when it announced the plan to create 510 jobs paying $55,000 per year in Indiana.

“I love this city,” said Marty Flaska, president and CEO of Hoist Liftruck. “But if we can keep an extra $2 million [per year] in our family businesses by moving 15 miles away, why wouldn’t we?” The manufacturer is currently located in Bedford Park, on the south side of 65th Street. House Speaker Mike Madigan’s legislative district is just across the street.

“If I didn’t have the workers’ compensation issue and the [property-tax] issue, I probably never would have even considered moving. Why would I?”
He’s speaking of a broken system that has festered in Illinois for decades under Madigan’s leadership. A system that has borne rotten fruit in the form of Illinois manufacturers leaving the state in droves, taking middle-class manufacturing jobs with them. Blue-collar families have seen the following in the last 30 days alone:

• A July 29 announcement by Mondelez International that it will lay off 600 manufacturing workers from its South Side facilities

• A July 24 announcement by Mitsubishi Motors that it will close down production facilities in Normal, Illinois, jeopardizing 918 automotive manufacturing jobs

• A July 16 announcement by General Mills that it will shut down its manufacturing plant in West Chicago, Illinois, laying off 500 workers

• A July 15 announcement by energy processor Bunge North America that it will shut down its plant in Bradley, Illinois, laying off 210 workers

• A July 14 announcement by machine-maker DE-STA-CO that it will move 100 manufacturing jobs from Wheeling, Illinois, to Nashville, Tennessee

Some of these companies, including Hoist Liftruck, have received subsidies or tax credits from other states to lure them away from Illinois, but Flaska says it’s not that simple.

“Forget about incentive money, when you look at the pure cost for me to do business in Illinois, the choice is clear.”

Illinois doing the Kanosian cliff dive, and they are goners.