Vermont Tubbs Snowshoes Factory Goes Silent

Stowe, Vermont former snow shoe maker Tubbs Snowshoes, recently aquired by K2 Sports, has officially closed its manufacturing factory. All of the snowshoe manufacturing and assembly jobs are being relocated to China. Only a few workers remain temporarily to continue shutting machines down and packing up goods, all of which will be shipped overseas to the plant in Guangzhou China.

Factory manager and 15-year employee, Joel Foster, will be making a trip to China personally in order to instruct the Chinese how to properly make Tubbs Snowshoes on the same machines that once lived in Stowe Vermont. Mr. Foster, like those of several dozen assembly line workers, will no longer be needed. "There is nobody here to manage anymore," stated Mr.Foster. "We are victims of our own success."

Tubbs Snowshoes is using cheap China labor to try and match its competitors that are already outsourcing to the Chinese. Founded in Norway, Maine, in 1906, Tubbs Snowshoes has been manufacturing snow shoes and supplying them for decades to everyone from adventurers and the military to hunters and winter outdoor enthusiasts.

In 1987, Ed Kiniry purchased the company and changed its direction to one that marketed lightweight aluminum snowshoes with hi-tech bindings to a growing winter recreational market. In 2004, production reached 110,000. Interestingly, only 400 were traditional wood snowshoes. In 2003, the company was awarded "Exporter of the Year" by the Vermont Chamber of Commerce. However, Mr. Kiniry sold the $20 million business to sports equipment maker, K2, who currently employs 8,000 workers at a factory in Guangzhou China. In keeping with its low cost manufacturing strategy, K2 immediately planned to move the manufacturing jobs to China and maintain a dozen administrative and sales positions in Stowe, Vermont.

Vermont's Congressman in the House of Representative's, Bernie Sanders, strongly opposes the recent wave of job losses from several business sectors in Vermont. Though facing heavy opposition from the Bush Administration, Bernie Sanders is currently legislating to impose restrictions on job migrations to China, due to China's low wage policy. "If you are an employer and you don't give a damn about your workers and you don't give a damn about your country, going to China makes perfect sense. They pay workers as low as 30 cents an hour, workers can't form unions, there is virtually no environmental protection and by and large workers can't stand up for their rights. That is their climate. You can't compete against that," stated Congressman Sanders in a recent interview.