Whirlpool to send 1,100 jobs to MEXICO, shut plant in Indiana - Wake Up America!

[Vinnie From Indy]

No jobs - no recovery! I hope all Americans understand that this recession is different than any other in our history. Companies like Whirlpool and others no longer need American workers. These jobs that are leaving are not coming back. While global corporations jumping around the globe to find the cheapest labor at all costs is hardly new, it is unforgivable that our government makes it easy and sometimes even provides incentives to move jobs out of the US.

Programs like "cash to clunkers" are simply temporary shots of adrenaline for our economy. I predict that sales of autos will again drop and put increasing pressure on US manufacturers. It does not seem like rocket science to understand that Americans without work will not be able to buy cars or washer & dryers etc.

Ross Perot was right! NAFTA, CAFTA and other agreements are creating a giant sucking sound as jobs are whisked out of the US for points around the globe.

******************************************************

INDIANAPOLIS — Whirlpool Corp. said Friday it will cut 1,100 jobs and close a refrigerator factory in Evansville, Ind., to trim excess production capacity by next year.

Whirlpool will move the production of refrigerators with freezers on top to a company location in Mexico. Ice makers produced in Evansville will be moved to a yet-to-be-decided location.

The jobs will be eliminated in mid-2010. The Benton Harbor, Mich.-based appliance maker has aggressively cut costs as demand for big-ticket items has shrunk in the recession.

Whirlpool spokeswoman Jill Saletta, speaking at a Friday morning press conference Webcast by Evansville television station WFIE, said the plant closing had nothing to do with worker performance.

"This decision is around cost," she said.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gqUSTJOUJEVJh5FKswfIwxmgJA2gD9AC0B5O3

[kentuck]

1. Why?

They are not making enough money for their stockholders? And that is of paramount importance, right?

[Deja Q]

3. Until stockholders buy a whirlpool and it falls to pieces - they too are CUSTOMERS and maybe even

EMPLOYEES

[Deja Q]

2. Sorry someone unrec'ed this. Though I think the article was posted before,

which MIGHT explain why it was unrec'ed (I doubt it), but I appreciated your commentary about the lack of recovery, because THAT was new and I think you have a valid point. And the unrec wankers will eventually learn how to think, because the US is (and will be for some time) the key stone to the GLOBAL ECONOMY. Like it or lump it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zj-vIOMtVY0

[Peacetrain]

4. This is why the stimulus was and is so important... to get jobs

rebuilding our infrastructure going. Also green jobs that cannot be exported.

[RC]

20. Jobs, smobs. Flippin' 'burgers is a job.

What we need is manufacturing in this country. Without manufacturing we are essentially just shifting ever inflating money from pocket to pocket.
Manufacturing is the engine that drives the economy. It does very little good to "Create Jobs" if we have to import the finished goods necessary to do that job. It just slows the decent to 3rd world status temporarily.

[progressoid]

32. +1

[mamaleah]

44. "Manufacturing is the engine that drives the economy."

I agree. Manufacturing jobs didn't make people rich, but they kept a roof over the head, food on the table, and a certain amount of stability. No, you didn't necessarily have all the newest and greatest gadgets and clothes from the most expensive places, but you weren't having to live with 8 people in a 2 bedroom apartment either.

[exboyfil]

21. Sorry to say it but unless you police it these green jobs will

be exported like all the rest. Just to give you the progression:

Engineering done in India
Fabrication in China (perhaps Mexico if we are lucky)
Hauled by Mexican trucks to the U.S. warehouses
Put in place by Mexican immigrants

Does that about sum it up?

[jmowreader]

54. More like...

Hauled by Mexican-immigrant drivers in US-based trucks. Mexican carriers don't WANT to run US lanes--freight rates are higher in Mexico than they are in the US. Expenses are higher in the US. Why would Orosco Trucking, if such there be, want to run from Monterrey in Mexico to Detroit, when they can run from Monterrey to El Paso or Laredo, drop at a jointly-owned drop yard within the three-mile free-trade zone, and make more money? Forget that "Mexican trucks are unsafe" bullshit--most of those guys are running newer trucks than I am..

I really expect how it will work out in the end is a couple of the huge carriers--probably YRC and Swift or YRC and JB Hunt--will start recruiting heavily in Mexico. Or some of the joint-venture companies in Mexico will assign English-speaking drivers to drive north of the border.

[girl gone mad]

49. "Green jobs that can't be exported"?

tens of thousands of green jobs have already been exported.

[Romulox]

55. "green jobs that cannot be exported"...just like IT jobs, right?

Why can't green jobs be outsourced just like any other job? :shrug:

[rucky]

5. Their brand equity just swirled down the toilet.

What on earth are they thinking? They probably had the best reputation for quality than any other appliance maker. I'm not saying the factories in Mexico aren't capable of producing quality, but this news will bring their production methods into question, since a big reason companies move overseas is to cut corners - not just labor costs.

[exboyfil]

24. Whirlpool bought out Maytag

and closed the facility (offices and manufacturing) in Newton, IA. So which are the U.S. made washing machines now?

[rucky]

25. i don't think there are any

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

47. Why will this bring their production methods into question?

They already produce a large amount of high-quality goods in Mexico.

[Romulox]

56. The average American isn't smart enough to check country of origin

let alone do any extensive quality comparisons...

[QC]

6. KICK!

:kick:

[CrispyQ]

7. About a week ago, CNN had a banner that read

that the appliance manufacturers want an equivalent 'cash for clunkers' program, because nobody's buying appliances.

:eyes: :crazy: :eyes: :crazy: :eyes: :crazy:

[Deja Q]

11. Was it similar to this:

http://renovomedia.com/news/cash-for-refrigerators-and-appliances/

?

[CrispyQ]

14. I didn't realize it was already in the plan.

~sigh

I was at Lowe's a few weeks ago & walked by a washer/dryer combo. $1200 each. Holy shit! Who pays $2400 for a washer & dryer? A few years ago I paid $400 for a new washer after my 21 year old one gave out. I can't imagine paying $1200 for a washer.

[Deja Q]

16. Eek!

Never mind "$2400" for the combo. They must save a ton of electricity and water and last for 50 years... (methinks neither of those qualifiers is true...)

[jmowreader]

35. A lot of people pay that much for one

Oh...and $1200 per appliance won't touch some of the higher-end machines. LG has a pair for well over $3000, and let's not even discuss Miele.

[girl gone mad]

52. Until recently, Miele was manufactured entirely in Germany.

Excellent quality, should last more than a lifetime with proper maintenance. Alas, I think even they have moved production to China.

[bertman]

58. Lots of people. Duh, that's why they sell them.

[Romulox]

57. How silly! Everybody knows that C4C was intended to bail out Toyota!

How dare a domestic company want in on that gravy train? That money was intended for Toyota, Honda, Hyundai! :silly:

[soverywendy]

8. You make it there ... you can't sell it here

End story. Stop letting the free traders fool you.

[Yuugal]

26. Welcome to DU and you are exactly right

Free trade has been a nightmare for the US. Since all we ever do is run a huge trade deficit that makes us poorer as a country every year, whats the point of having it? I always hear people from both partys saying protectionism is a bad thing because then our trade partners will retaliate. SO what? We are playing a rigged poker game and getting robbed and if we decide to walk away from the table, somehow that would be worse?

Is it wrong to assume that if we banned all washing machine imports we would see a rise in US jobs as companies here rushed in to fill the gap and US workers would benefit? Here is an interesting debate on NAFTA, 8 parts long, between Al Gore and Ross Perot.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhwhMXOxHTg&feature=PlayList&p=EFDB7E8BDD79F0E3&index=11

Al Gore has been proven by time to be totally wrong and/or totally corrupt for helping push that NAFTA crap on us. His DLC buddies have been haunting us ever since with even more bogus "free trade" agreements.

Anyway, welcome to DU, and thanks for saying it like it is.

[Deja Q]

27. Well said!!!!!!!

[MadHound]

9. This recession is nothing new, sad to say

We had a jobless "recovery" in the recession of the late seventies, early eighties. We watched the start of the flood of jobs going overseas during this recession. It may not have been apparent in large cities or on the coasts, but it was apparent in small and mid size communities throughout the Midwest as staple factory jobs like shoe factories and TV plants skipped the country. This is why the Midwest was much slower to recover(and some say that it never really did) from this recession than other locations at the time. This is also when we saw the Reagan administration started cooking the unemployment numbers in order to cover up the damage being done.

We also saw the same sort of jobless recession during the early nineties. Again, the Midwest was hard hit, but it really became apparent because large cities and the coastal sections of this country saw jobs fleeing the country. Clinton managed to paper this over by both cooking the unemployment numbers and by the creation of a smoke screen with the financial sector. Everything was supposed to be going great guns because the financial markets were climbing through the roof and there was the tech bubble gobbling up headlines on the evening news. Yet at the same time we watched as a huge portion of the employment force were forced to switch over from well paying manufacturing jobs to less well paying service sector jobs. This is when we saw the advent of working class people having to work two jobs in order to make ends meet. This is when we saw the advent of the working homeless in large numbers. The rich got richer, the poor got poorer, and the gap between the rich and the rest of us opened up to a record breaking chasm that has only grown since.

This current jobless recovery is nothing new, what's new how the administration will try and cover it up. It would be nice to think that the Obama administration would open up an entirely new industry in the green sector, but given the opposition that he has faced over health care, and his seemingly willingness to cave to the corporate powers that be, I seriously doubt that this will happen.

This is simply another assault on the poor and middle class designed to keep labor costs down and the public in perpetual debt servitude. The transfer of wealth to the wealthy from the rest of us continues unabated, and unless some serious reforms are undertaken this assault on the middle class will continue.

[CrispyQ]

17. This is worthy of it's own thread.

:thumbsup:

[Deja Q]

19. Agrred. I no longer think offshoring is helping the rest of the world as originally claimed.

Hopefully I'm wrong, but "globalization" certainly isn't "expansion" - it really seems more like "migration".

[kath]

36. Great post!

"The transfer of wealth to the wealthy from the rest of us continues unabated"
Yeppers.

[Deja Q]

10. Speaking of corruption,

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=4007816&mesg_id=4012123

[fasttense]

12. And that's at least 1,100 fewer people buying Whirlpool products.

Who do they think is going to buy their poorly made corporate crap when no Middle Class remains in the US? Move all of our industry to foreign countries and what exactly remains for the US Middle Class to do? Can we run the largest consumer market in the history of the world on washing each other's clothes and cleaning each other's toilets?


Everything can either be outsourced or turned over to a poorly paid HB-1 visa worker. NO US JOB IS SAFE FROM THE GREEDY.

[crikkett]

48. Wait, I thought the recession was over.

Game on?

[Double T]

13. wall street and corporate america are running our government and country.

The American economy is in the tank as we will see by the end of this year. Cost cutting including huge job reductions are the only thing fueling the criminals on wall street and in the corporate boardrooms. Many small businesses are out of business and many more will follow the same fate. The outsourcing of jobs to foreign slave wage countries will not stop. The latest recession will be 'nothing' compared to what is coming once reality sets in. This country needs a strong reformer leadership and government, which we currently do not have. If we really want change, we need to fire every single incumbent politician in next years midterm elections. Only when the message from the American people is loud and clear, will there be any hope for saving our nation from the coming economic and social disaster. Jobless recoveries are NOT recoveries, specially when the REAL unemployment number is ACTUALLY 16% and growing worse each day. Looks like an increase in washboard sales is in America's future. No need for illegal aliens to come HERE, our jobs will be sent to their country soon.

[1776Forever]

15. Thanks for posting - One of our friends works at Marion Ohio plant - I pray they won't be next but

they have worked tirelessly in the last 4 years to keep their plant there. They have broken all production records and taken pay cuts to do so. They just had a layoff of 570 last year. This is the only big employer in this town. I hope President Obama will have someone step in and ask if the government can do anything to help Whirlpool stay in Indiana and keep the Ohio plant open! This is going to be devastating if it goes through!

[Deja Q]

18. They work their butts off, with loyalty, and that's what they get in return?!

Disgraceful.

[Not Me]

22. Damn, I just bought a new Whirlpool refrigerator last summer

over an LG because it was made in the USA.

[Frustratedlady]

23. Remember this when you go to buy an appliance.

"This decision is around cost," she said.

My decision to not buy Whirlpool is around patriotism.

[kath]

37. Good luck trying to find any consumer goods made in the US --

they're rarer than hens' teeth, and getting rarer all the time.
:grr:

[HughMoran]

28. I'm so tired of fighting this

So often my job has been shipped overseas - and I'm a tech-pro - it's not just manufacturing jobs any more. American companies are traitors to the flag and their owners should be executed for treason. Either that or our government should have some incentives to make companies want to keep the jobs here. I think the latter is a better idea.

[Deja Q]

38. Some in congress (both Democrats AND Republicans) are trying, and even President Obama has

ensured that little piggies like Steve Baller start to whine "Taxing foreign profits will make US labor too expensive". What's Steve been snorting anyway? Tariffs only equalize the playing field. I thought "globalists" wanted an even playing field?

Like I said, the piggies want it both ways. Thankfully we have people in Congress, on BOTH SIDES, who care about AMERICA'S ECONOMY. (e.g. Durbin, Grassley, others...)


Forgive my vitriol. Especially in today's economy, there are more than plenty of competent, capable, intelligent Americans to do the jobs. (And yes, there are dumb ones too, but it's fairly obvious the H1B system is being abused. By both sides.)

[justgamma]

29. We manufacture parts for Whirlpool.

About 10 years ago, they demanded that we build a plant next to them. We did. It was closed 4 years ago. Cost us a fortune.
We will lose business. It doesn't bode well.

Now the bright side. The manufacturers of wire products went to the FTC and complained that China was undercutting prices. They investigated and found that China was violating the trade act. There is now a surcharge on incoming products. As a result, we are now getting back the business that went to China and we are one of the few manufacturing companies that are hiring workers.

[AuntPatsy]

30. This is soooo important..just yesterday I had a huge blow out when attempting

to check on something after finding out I was calling Milan??? Of course I appologized to the worker simply because it was not her fault that she is working for an american company...

The only thing I can think of to do is try and it would be a hard try to STOP buying or using further any products and or using services NOT held or manned by American employees..pathetic that they go on and on about unemployment when its more than obvious there are plenty of jobs for americans they have simply given them to other countries..

ENOUGH..

[Mari333]

31. I also just found out that Whirlpool is cutting their health benefits to their retired workers

completely...I have a friend who works here in MI at senior services.

[bbgrunt]

33. k n r

[moondust]

34. Can they sell their stuff in Mexico?

No doubt somebody somewhere at some time has argued that since labor is drastically cheaper in third world countries the price of their products can be lowered drastically, perhaps even to the point where the local population can afford them. If true then it would likely be argued that companies moving their production facilities abroad are trying to expand into foreign markets by: 1) putting money in the pockets of workers there; and 2) sellling their products at prices low enough that those foreign workers can afford them (the old Henry Ford model.)

Some would also likely argue that U.S. markets are all sewn up by a few dominant corporations and impossible to break into, and thus the adventures in offshoring by competitors trying to open up new markets for their products in the third world.

In other words, is there some long-term strategery playing out on a global scale or is it just short-term profiteering?

How many pesos for a Whirlpool washer and dryer in Oaxaca?

[Deja Q]

39. Even Bill O'Reilly asked ex-Presidente Vincente Fox why Mexico's government won't help its people

(on youtube)

Wishful thinking re: #2.

Henry Ford was a decent man. He built people up - WITHOUT DRAGGING EVERYONE ELSE DOWN. That's the difference.

[moondust]

41. Henry Ford a decent man?

He was a fucking Nazi lover. As I understand it Hitler himself used to hand out Ford's books as gifts.

Here's one: http://www.biblebelievers.org.au/intern_jew.htm

[Deja Q]

50. EEK! Scary... The man paid his workers decent wages...

what you said shocked me...

[proteus_lives]

40. Fuck Whirlpool for screwing over my state.

It will be a cold day in hell before I buy another one of their products.

[Vinca]

42. I'm going to need a new range very soon and I'll make a point

not to buy Whirlpool. I'll email them and let them know.

[azmouse]

43. Who do they think will be left in this country to buy their products

when all the jobs (and money) are overseas? Seems really shortsighted and incredibly stupid.

[Deja Q]

51. LOL! They should take "Introduction to Business" - they'd probably fail it too.

[windoe]

45. UNemployed American should incorporate themselves, and

bring back "MADE IN AMERICA" so we can bring back our own economy. Declare Independence from these f*ckers.

Actually the government is supposed to be "American People, Inc.' !!! We the People are supposed to be the CEO's of our government servants. Ha ha. IF only.

[LostInAnomie]

46. I have a friend that works at that plant.

He says the people that work his shift are crushed. Apparently, there are a lot of people in their late 50's working on his shift that have been there their whole careers. They are getting laid off knowing that around here the chances of getting hired for a similar job when you are in your late 50's is a pipe dream. Whirlpool had been holding this possibility over the workers heads for a long time.

[Captain Hilts]

53. Better Mexico than China. nt