Friday, April 28, 2017


Northeastern Pennsylvania Textiles:

And then there was none

By Leo Lubinsky


 
 
Above: Abandoned textile mill

Photo by Leo Lubinsky
 
After the coal jobs disappeared in the “Coal Region” of Pennsylvania, textiles filled much of the void.  I can remember looking from my first grade classroom window, across the valley, to the coat factory where my mother worked.   For the next 44 years my life and fortunes would be tied to the local textile mills and factories.  This is my story of the local textile industry and its ultimate demise.

When I entered first grade in 1962 every little town in the county had one or more shirt, blouse, or coat factory.  Many towns had knitting mills or dye houses, as well.   Anyone needing a job could find one in the local textile trade.  Many mothers, like my own, worked while their kids were in school.  When my older brother needed a job; he got one in the same factory my where my mother had worked.  My father worked in a small town a few miles away.  He was an electrician in a bleach and dye house.

When I graduated from high school in 1974 my last choice for a job was the textile trade.  I worked several jobs through the 70’s as the economy spiraled down.  I had a little house and a little family by 1981 and my job outside textiles had no benefits.  When my father told me the company he worked for was hiring, I gave in, and applied.  It was a third generation family business that had no problem hiring relatives of current employees; in fact, they preferred to do so.  The man who hired me said “you will never get rich here but we have great benefits for your family”, and so; I started a career in textiles.

I was a knitter, a dye tub operator, ran wet processing machines, and dryers.  By the late 80’s I was promoted to supervisor and soon after to human resources assistant manager.  I was not rich but I could walk to work and my family did have great benefits, fully paid. By 1990 I was an operations manager in bleaching and finishing and still with the same family business that was founded in 1909.  Business had its ups and downs, but usually; the ups meant overtime for the hourly workers and the downs meant only 40 hours a week.

The challenges to the business were many in the early 90’s; in a non-union company we frequently had one union or another campaigning to represent the employees, increasing regulations, and increasing energy and raw material cost to name a few.  These pressures slowly sent the profits lower but the largest obstacle was being created by the U.S. government in the form of a trade agreement.

The weather was seasonably cold with a light wind on January 1st, 1994 but the headwinds started howling against the textile industry in the U.S. that day as The North American Free Trade Agreement took effect.  Due to NAFTA, over the next decade, almost one million textiles jobs would disappear, including my own*.

As importing textiles became cheaper and more and more connections were made between the importers and the retailers, business became tighter.  Through 1994 and 1995 most American textiles manufacturers were adversely impacted.  It was an unusual negative event late in 1995 that gave my employer a temporary respite from the hard times; a fire.

A massive fire at the Malden Mills complex on December 11th, 1995 would give us the momentum we needed to keep going into the new century.  Because of the loss of Malden Mill’s ability to finish their own product they contracted out large scale production to our mill.  Even so, late in 2000 the family business, my employer, that had started in 1909 closed forever.  In 2015, on the eve of the 20th anniversary of the great fire, Malden Mills factories in Lawrence Massachusetts announced their closing with the owners citing “global marketing pressures”.

A drive through the county today reveals a rare few factories or mills producing textiles.  Most of the idled buildings have been repurposed or demolished to become parking lots.  Like many others I left the county to find a good job; and today, a new high school graduate has a harder time finding any job in the county. When the first job is found it is often in fast food or in a warehouse and probably not in the employee’s home town so he/she better have a car.  The textile business is now a thing of the past in our county and the county’s future appears nearly as dark as the abandoned coal mines.


 

Thursday, December 1, 2016

Habitat for Humanity of Pennsylvania Hosts Annual Conference

 


A graduate of Alvernia College’s MBA program, Leo Lubinsky worked as a location manager for Lowes in Brownsville, Tennessee. Previously with the company in Pittston, Pennsylvania, Leo Lubinsky was a frequent volunteer in his community and helped with Habitat for Humanity in the state.

Habitat for Humanity of Pennsylvania (HFHPA) is a nonprofit organization that works locally on behalf of the global Habitat for Humanity organization. It unites people through God’s love to build homes, communities, and hope.

Each year the HFHPA sponsors an annual state conference. With a theme of “Framing the Future of Pennsylvania,” the 2016 conference included collaborations, forums, and orientations. Attendees had opportunities to meet with vendors, network with others, and attend the HFHPA board meeting. Keynote speakers included Victoria Bourret, the communications and project manager for the Housing Alliance of Pennsylvania; David J. Corwin, the director of housing programs for Pennsylvania USDA Rural Development; and Sarah W. Mackey, CFRE, an organizational development consultant for Habitat for Humanity International.

Wednesday, November 9, 2016

La Verendrye - Wildlife-Rich Quebec Reserve Spanning Land and Lakes


 


Leo Lubinsky is a longtime management leader who has experience overseeing Lowe’s regional distribution center activities. Passionate about gardening and nature, Leo Lubinsky has taken several Quebec fishing trips, during which he experienced a diverse array of animal life, from ospreys to moose. A favorite destination is the La Verendrye Wildlife Reserve, which spans nearly 5,000 square miles and encompasses 4,000 lakes and a pair of First Nation communities.

Situated between the Abitibi-Témiscamingue and Outaouais regions, the reserve was created in 1939, at the time when the highway Route 177 neared completion. The park is particularly popular among canoe-campers, with 800 lakes open for fishing. Prominent among these are the Grand lac Victoria and the large-scale river-fed reservoirs Cabonga and Dozois, which contain species such as walleye, sturgeon, and speckled trout.

During July and August, berries are abundant, with blueberries and raspberries attracting hikers as well as foraging animals such as bear and white-tailed deer. More than 150 migratory bird species, including ruffled and spruce grouse, make the region their home. Mr. Lubinsky enjoys the intimate contact with wildlife that La Verendrye offers, with humans encountered on a more infrequent basis than animal species.