MPR’s Bob Kelleher reports on Lighthouse for the Blind, a Duluth plant that manufacturers a plain, white and rather sturdy roll of toilet tissue. But one of Duluth's most widely-distributed exports is in danger, as are the jobs of dozens of Minnesotans who are sight-impaired .
For ten years, about 50 workers at the Lighthouse for the Blind have been making toilet tissue purchased almost exclusively by the Federal Government, under a program intended to help employ workers with disabilities. Some changes in paper prices, put in place by the government might force the Duluth facility to close production and lay-off people who are sight-impaired.
Transcripts
text | pdf |
BOB KELLEHER: It might be the Duluth export that touches the most people. A plain, wide, and rather sturdy roll of toilet tissue manufactured in Duluth is found in the restrooms of US military personnel at home and overseas, in federal buildings in Washington, and the tourist privies in Yellowstone National Park. 3/4 of the federal government's entire supply of toilet paper comes from sight-impaired workers at Duluth's Lighthouse for the Blind. Sales provide blind people meaningful employment and support programs at the nonprofit organization. But Lighthouse officials say the government is forcing toilet paper prices so low they can't produce at a profit.
The small Duluth factory is competing nearly head-to-head with paper giants like Fort Howard, Kimberly-Clark, and the James River Corporation that often bid to produce toilet paper at a loss when they have excess capacity in a paper mill. The Lighthouse may have to stop producing for federal contracts and end tissue production. 47 employees, including 37 who are blind, could be out of work by the end of the summer. Finance and payroll positions could go, and training and vocational rehabilitation programs for hundreds of Minnesotans would be at risk.
In the Lighthouse's West Duluth plant, a worker unwinds paper rolls as big as tractor tires. Rolls of tissue grade paper are purchased from area paper plants and converted here into boxes of wrapped rolls of toilet paper. Some workers are obviously blind and hand packed rolls into boxes or carry boxes to pallets for shipping. Others with limited vision operate the machinery that unrolls paper, slices it to size or wraps it in paper.
Lighthouse workers also produce napkins, paper towels, and laundry bags. Their only customer, the US, and by far toilet tissue makes up the bulk of their sales. Supervisor Pete Gallant, who is legally blind, says these jobs help sight-impaired people support themselves and build self-esteem.
PETE GALLANT: These are significant jobs. We pay pretty well. These are not charity jobs. This is not welfare work. This is real manufacturing jobs. And our people take a lot of pride in what they do.
BOB KELLEHER: Machine operator Art Foy has some sight, but is legally blind. Foy might be able to find work in another area manufacturing plant, but he worries about his co-workers should production be shut down.
ART FOY: That would be disastrous. It really would. Some of these-- most of these people here, this is all they got. What are you going to do? Where are they going to go to work?
BOB KELLEHER: The federal government matches products produced by disabled workers with customers, such as the General Services Administration. Under the Depression era Javits-Wagner-O'Day Act, the committee for purchase from people who are blind or severely disabled sets the price and the federal government purchases the products. The lawsuit filed by the Lighthouse for the Blind contends the government committee arbitrarily changed its pricing formula, forcing the Lighthouse to produce at a $20,000-a-month loss. The suit claims the government made the price changes without adequate public input or hearings, in violation of federal law. And it says federal rules requiring the purchase of products from disabled workers are being widely ignored.
Lighthouse officials blame the fallout on Defense Department contract scandals of the 1980s and a new customer-oriented attitude that's less sympathetic to disabled manufacturers. The Lighthouse and other sight-impaired organizations are represented before the federal government by the National Industries for the Blind. NIB spokesman Arun Shimpi says there's a new philosophy in which suppliers are expected to satisfy their customer, the federal government, or the government will shop elsewhere. In this new competitive era, many federal agencies armed with credit cards are moving away from long-held buying agreements.
Vice President Al Gore's 1993 report on reinventing government encourages a deregulation of federal purchases and reliance on open markets to save taxpayer dollars. Lighthouse Executive Director Paul Almirall has brought the company through Chapter 11 Reorganization and late last year into a profitable mode before the price of tissue dropped early this year. Almirall says the federal budget backlash threatens a valuable program.
PAUL ALMIRALL: It's a very discouraging situation that we are in. I think the federal program that has supported the production of toilet paper is the best of federal social service programs. It's a self-help program. It's designed to allow blind workers to have meaningful employment and have meaningful lives in a competitive environment. And I think it's very sad that one of the better programs that I think exists in the federal arena is unraveling.
BOB KELLEHER: Almirall says the lighthouse could produce more efficiently by increasing automation, but that would still put sight-impaired employees out of work. Lighthouse officials filed suit in mid-April. The federal government has until mid-June to file its response.
Government representatives will not comment on the action while the dispute remains in litigation. In Duluth, I'm Bob Kelleher. Minnesota Public Radio.