Word: caterpillar
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...obstacles facing U.S. companies that sell abroad are nowhere more sharply limned than at the Caterpillar Tractor headquarters in Peoria, 111. Once the unchallenged leader in the manufacture of heavy-construction equipment, Caterpillar has been staggered by shrinking foreign markets and fierce competition. In 1982 and 1983 it lost a total of $525 million, and the number of employees in the U.S. assigned to the export business has fallen from 31,000 to 16,000. During 1984's first three months, it lost an additional $109 million. To stem its losses, the company has been forced to cut employment...
They played croquet and Risk. They competed in caterpillar races on the John D. Merrill '89 memorial on the riverbank across form the finish line. In these days of electronic wizardry, they even got to watch themselves on videotape. They also watched movies and eventually got around to filming interviews with one another...
...with the Soviet downing of Korean Airlines flight 007, though no one in the White House would ever put it so bluntly. In recent weeks the President had gone against his own instincts by signing a long term grain deal with Moscow, lifting a ban on the sale of caterpillar pipe-layer equipment, and agreeing to initial a treaty on security and human rights negotiated in Madrid...
...biggest winner in the settlement could be the city of Peoria (pop. 125,000), whose residents depend on Caterpillar for one out of every five jobs. Recession and the slumping farm economy had pushed Peoria's unemployment rate to 19.2% before the walkout, and the strike sent it to more than 40%. A wave of corporate defections has compounded the city's problems. Pabst Brewing and Hiram Walker have pulled out of the central-Illinois community in the past two years. Now Caterpillar paychecks will pump badly needed money back into the city and help sales of cars...
Still, Peoria's relief is tinged with bitterness. During the lengthy dispute, residents were torn between their sympathy for striking friends and neighbors and their respect for Caterpillar, which had previously been a popular local employer. Now many are angry at both sides for prolonging a fight that hurt the community. Says Mayor Richard Carver: "The day will come when people will look back and see the strike as the most foolish thing that ever happened here." Some returning employees already feel that way. Said Caterpillar Worker Steve Stannard last week: "The company starved...