BANGOR, Maine — General Electric plans to move 80 power turbine production jobs from here to France.
The company is blaming Congress' failure to reauthorize the U.S. Export-Import Bank at the end of June.
The Bangor jobs are among 500 that GE is moving overseas as a condition of securing the export financing it needs to bid on power plant construction projects abroad.
Maine's two representatives in the U.S. House have different views of GE's move and what it means.
The Bangor jobs are connected with a division of General Electric that builds power plants. It's called GE Power and Water.
When GE Power and Water, or any other company, wants to bid on a construction project in a foreign country, it has to obtain export financing to even compete for the project.
There are a few reasons for this, says Jeff Connelly, vice president of global supply chain for GE Power and Water. Export credit is typically cheaper than the financing offered by large banks. And Connelly says it can be a way for the country that's extending the credit to get some jobs out of the whole deal.
"Now in the decades prior to June 30 of this year, we had the option, always, of bringing US EX-IM as our vehicle to provide export credit financing to the customer," he says.
And in return for the U.S. Export Import Bank's support, the federal government made a request of GE.
"That we would manufacture the lion's share — the number has moved over the years — but it could be as high as 80 percent of the content would have to be manufactured here in the U.S.," Connelly says.
Which led to the creation of hundreds of jobs at plants in places such as Bangor; Schenectady, New York; South Carolina; and Texas. But as Connelly noted, this mutually beneficial relationship between U.S. manufacturers and the federal government came to an end in June, when the U.S. House let the U.S. Export Import bank's 81-year charter expire.
"It's really distressing," he says. "We have had plenty of time in the House of Representatives to reauthorize the Export-Import Bank."
U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree, a Democrat from Maine's 1st District, supports reauthorizing the bank. But Conservative Republicans in the House blocked a vote on the issue, citing concerns that the bank represented "corporate welfare" and "crony capitalism."
In a statement issued Tuesday, Republican U.S. Rep. Bruce Poliquin echoed this criticism.
Poliquin, who represents Maine's 2nd District, also faulted the bank for extending 70 percent of its loans to 10 large corporations. And he noted that during the past five years, 48 bank employees have been convicted of fraud. Pingree says she, too, is concerned about this track record.
"Look, I have plenty of concerns about loan guarantees," Pingree says. "And I think we should be very careful about which loans get guaranteed. And I agree. GE is a big corporation. But these are 80 jobs here in Maine. And are we going to say, just because we have concerns with this bank, or any other bank, or any loan guarantee, we're going to turn our back on it."
A rapid response team from the Maine Department of Labor has reportedly contacted the company and is planning to hold a session with the 80 affected workers in the Bangor operation.