Philips Touts Livable Cities While Killing Jobs
Every year, Netherlands-based multinational Philips honors the most innovative ideas from around the world to help make our cities more livable. The winners of the Livable Cities competition will be announced at exclusive black tie gala held tonight in Amsterdam.
This year's finalists include entries that promote the arts, clean water and access to health care; almost everything except the one thing needed to make any city livable.
Jobs.
Maybe it's because Philips is about to move its most profitable North American lighting plant to Mexico, putting 275 workers in Sparta, Tenn., out of a job and devastating the local community.
Maybe it's because Philips has become infamous around the world for outsourcing, tearing up good jobs and communities in its quest for the lowest wages possible.
Workers in Sparta have been doing everything right, with their plant being named of one North America's 10 best in 2009 by Industry Week magazine.
And it's hard for Philips to plead poverty. Its profits are back up to pre-recession levels, and even during the worst days of the downturn, former CEO Gerard Kleisterlee felt his company was doing well enough to award himself a $1 million bonus in addition to his existing six-digit salary.
Good jobs mean strong communities and more livable cities.
As the green technology blog Greenbang recently wrote in an entry titled "Good point: There's no Sustainability Without Jobs":
Companies that tout smart, sustainable and livable futures should take care to practice what they preach ... (Philips) has drawn ire for its plans to shutter its manufacturing plant in Sparta, Tennessee, early next year.
The Sparta plant was also set to shortly begin producing high-efficiency LED lighting, a fast-growing segment of the lighting industry.
Philips' judges don't allow write-ins, so let's make sure Philips new CEO Frans van Houten gets our message: we vote jobs.
If you're on Twitter, click here to to tell Philips: We Vote Jobs, Keep the Lights on in Sparta, Tenn.
And on Facebook, click here to post on Philips's own Facebook page.
Go to www.tellphilips.com or the Tell Philips Facebook page for more information on the campaign to save the Sparta plant.