Caterpillar Inc. said it chose a site near Athens, Ga., for a new $200 million factory that will employ about 1,400 people and make construction equipment currently produced in Sagami, Japan.That will do a lot of good around here. It's a good choice -- we've got rail lines to Atlanta and Savannah, as well as the port at Charleston, and I-85 running through the territory as well. This has been a pretty depressed area the last several years, so this is very good to hear. A lot of my neighbors will be helped by it.
Great News for the Local Working Man:
Caterpillar is coming home.
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Reuters: "The Peoria, Illinois, company indicated in recent weeks that higher state income tax rates were a factor in its decision to locate this plant outside of its home state. Illinois Governor Pat Quinn shot back, saying he believed the decision was based solely on Caterpillar's logistics requirements.
"Caterpillar first signalled its desire to move work from Japan in November, and at the time said it would also consider sites in Canada and Mexico with good access to ports. It said it did not expect job cuts at its plant in Sagami, Japan."
Press release: "The decision to shift production from Japan to the United States is driven by the proximity to a large base of customers in North America and Europe. Our objective is to better serve those customers from this new factory," said BCP Vice President Mary Bell. "The Athens site was selected from among dozens of locations considered due to its proximity to the major ports of Savannah and Charleston, a strong regional base of potential suppliers, a positive and pro-active business climate and a good pool of potential employees with manufacturing experience," Bell added.
GlobalPost: "On Feb. 3, days after Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels signed an anti-union, right-to-work bill into law, Caterpillar announced that it would move its Electro-Motive Diesel locomotive plant in London, Ontario, Canada, to Muncie, Ind., the Toronto Star reported. In Canada, Caterpillar had been battling 450 unionized workers who refused to accept a 50 percent pay cut."
Is Georgia a right-to-work state?
Yep.
Outstanding! Then most definately tis a boon for the Athens area. Good on the Cat company.
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Congrats. Great news for Georgia. A factory of that size is going to be contracting services from a broad area.
Hopefully this is part of a trend.
Meanwhile it was on the front page of the Chicago Tribune and in the editorials as well that Caterpillar pretty much laughed Illinois' bid out of their office. They figure - quite rightly - that Illinois' fiscal nightmare of public pension fund obligations will force them to keep raising taxes and want no part of it.
Illinois raised it's income tax from 3% to 5.5% last year. EVERY PENNY is going towards public employee pension funds.
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