Political Quotes

“Mr. President, last April a German clothing company, Hugo Boss, announced it was planning to close down its only North American manufacturing plant located in Brooklyn, OH, outside of Cleveland. Hugo Boss told us they were going to expand their American sales force but shut down all U.S. production. Despite the Cleveland plant being profitable--a plant that had been in existence for decades and decades prior to Hugo Boss purchasing it--Hugo Boss planned to move its Cleveland production to the country of Turkey. I recognize Hugo Boss's desire to expand their sales force by eliminating production in the United States and shipping it to Turkey-- a sad but all too common story in our Nation today--but it was a devastating announcement for the workers and for the community in Brooklyn, OH. Cleveland has a long and storied history of manufacturing clothes and apparel, in addition to chemicals and steel and autos and so much else. In Brooklyn, a suburb of Cleveland, a factory is a source of pride and economic prosperity. Yet despite the shock and disappointment of the announcement, the community rallied behind the workers. In the ensuing months, Governor Strickland and I met Hugo Boss executives and workers. I talked to the Hugo Boss people in Germany by phone. I went to the plant and talked to workers, heard their stories-- often workers who had been there 10, 20, 30 years, husbands and wives working together at the plant making no more than $15 an hour.…”