Furniture and Television; Do the Math.

I really hope there isn't truely a corollary between Television and Furniture like the quip on my T-shirt says because if there is, judging by the VJ movement, my recent post about what kind of furniture I am and the announcment by Thomasville Furniture Tuesday, I could be in big trouble.



Certainly it's only a cute saying but the timing is impeccable.

Thomasville Furniture's announcment is big news, drawing us TV types from near and far. 600 jobs are being slashed and Plant A and many of it's support facilities are closing.



The economic impact has several layers. 600 factory jobs worth about $25,000 each equals a direct impact of $1.5 million. That $1.5 million will be missing from the local economy causing businesses around Thomasville to feel the pinch.



And a lot of those workers will now need public assistance from the various charities around town. But the United Way, which supports the charities, has lost $200,000 worth of support that those 600 workers have always pledged every year.

The jobs at the Furniture factory are going overseas to China. By taking the labor around the world TFI can apparantly lower their labor costs from 30 percent of the price of a piece of furniture to around 10 percent.



At least as a TV Photojournalist I can take comfort in knowing that my job can't be given to cheaper labor taken over by less talented workers exported.(UPDATE--not to be taken as though Chinese workers are less talented but that jobs in the TV industry are fairly susceptible to replacement by cheaper labor regardless of talent.)



The brutal truth is that there is a metamorphosis underway in Furniture factories and Newsrooms around the nation. My 600 neighbors that are losing their factory jobs will have to adapt.

Whatever becomes of the TV newsroom, I am comfortable that I can adapt as well.