Magyar News, 1991. szeptember-1992. augusztus (2. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1992-06-01 / 10. szám
Magyar News Monthly Publication in Cooperation of the local Hungarian Churches & Organization ...AND THE LIGHTS ARE SHINING BRIGHTER In our previous issue under the headline “Are the lights going out?”, I mentioned some rumors about the problems between General Electric and the Hungarian Tungsram company. Members of our local Hungarian community are more sensitive to these problems than others because on one hand they are Hungarian Americans, and on the other hand many, their relatives or friends, worked for GE. This corporation was considered one of our own, originally being located on the Post Road, and now having its headquarters on the northern end of Fairfield. Last summer our Hungarian community, enforced with people coming from as far as New Jersey, Hartford, Rhode Island, with a celebration parade demonstrated with joy that the last Soviet military personnel left Hungary. Since then the awareness of the political development added on the hope for successful economical changes and growth towards a market oriented democracy. It is the fate and well-being of the Hungarian people that is at stake. The 22 billion dollar debt that was brought on by the communist government onto a country of 10 million people was a nightmare. As a result the economic difficulties are still putting extreme burden on the people. Unemployment is up at 10 percent, inflation is eating away the value of the money by one third. There are good signs, too. At the end of the communist regime there were 5,000 small private businesses. Now they grew in numbers twelve times of what they were. Also just in the past year foreign investors put 1.5 billion dollars into the Hungarian industry. They are French, Japanese, and on behalf of America the major investors are General Motors and General Electric. For some reason everybody has their eyes on GE. They bought into a company that had a good reputation, it was relatively well organized and had a market potential. This is the Tungsram company with 11 plants in Hungary and one in Austria. To obtain proper information I went the easy way. GE is right around the comer so COMPUTER REPAIR INFOWORKS FAIRFIELD 331-0466 I got in touch with the international offices in Fairfield. As it turned out the proper office, GE Lighting, is in Cleveland, Ohio, in a city that has the largest Hungarian population in the USA. With Mr. John Betchkal, manager of Communication and Public Affairs, I had a very pleasant and informative discussion that not only cleared up the rumors, but put my mind at ease. In November 1989 GE gave the Hungarians $150 million and received 50% plus one share of the Tungsram Company. The next year GE increased its share to 75%, considering it to be a good investment. Mr. Varga, a native of Hungary, and a top ranking official of GE was made head of Tungsram. He had his work cut out to streamline production and bring management up to western standards. At this point Tungsram had 13,000 employees; and under the bad economic transition period, it was a good feeling that jobs were provided and secured for all those Hungarian people. Though the equipment at Tungsram was well maintained, the production line was still in need of expansion and upgrading. GE immediately invested $38 million, then in 1991 $35 million, and this year an extra $30 million. Last fall GE expanded the European line by 2,000 different bulbs including Tungsram in this production. I was amazed because in my experience I only knew 60 watts, 100 watts bulbs, one for the searchlight, and some for the car. After looking around I see some on the computer, in the oven, toys, and you name it. I lost count, but let me tell you I never got close to 2,000. Unfortunately the way they say it, the market went soft, created some overproduction and to balance matters, GE decided to close down ten of eleven plants. This was the time when everybody got nervous. But as it turned out, the closing lasted only for a few weeks. In a bad economy something like this could really hurt the workers. It looks like GE took this into consideration and for this period paid 80% of the base salaries to the workers. It was a nice gesture. Another nice facet of this cooperation is that there is an ongoing exchange of people within the two companies. Hungarians from Tungsram come to the S tates and spend time at GE plants, and vice versa, Americans go to Hungary. In the market the Tungsram products are sold in 80% for hard currency and only 20% for eastern block and domestic exchange. Mr. Betchkal’s answer to my question of are we going to see any of Tungsram products in America was that it will be under Tungsram USA label. For American Hungarians the Tungsram light bulbs, for some reason only they know, will shine better than other light bulbs. Joseph F. Balogh MAGYAR NYELVŰ RÁDIÓMŰSOR A FAIRF1ELDI EGYETEMRŐL WVOF 88.5 FM MINDEN VASÁRNAP délután 3 órától fél 6-ig! • Magyar nóták • Népi muzsika • Cigány zene • Humor • Magyarságismeret • Magyar költők versei • Néprajzismeret • Gyermek műsorok • Történeim • Közügyek ismertetése Műsorszerkesztők: MAGYAR IRÉN és PÁL LÁSZLÓ
