www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2009/01/lette -
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Last Visited: 1/5/2009
Grand Rapids Spring & Stamping Chairman and CEO Jim Zawacki agrees.
But his focus is on trade policy and saving blue-collar jobs at his auto parts plant.
Zawacki asserts it is past time to give U.S. companies a level playing field.
"I would like to have a trade policy equal to our industrial partners.
If they have a tariff, we should have a tariff," Zawacki said.
"We do such crazy things in this country.
We talk about free trade and then subsidize agriculture."
In September, Zawacki was giving out bonuses to some of his 225 employees.
Two months later, he was scrambling to cut costs, as he took an 80 percent pay cut, full-time employees went to part-time and others were laid off.
Zawacki believes the auto industry can survive, but only with some changes.
"If we want to compete with China and the rest of the world, our wages have to be reasonable," he said.