It’s never a good thing when the US loses more jobs to China. I have to wonder if things would have been different had the union worked harder with management to keep the factory open.
I have a gut feeling the union was locked in an “us vs them, fight to the death” mentality. I feel for the workers and their families about to go on unemployment in this horrible economy.
...does not support the accusation that the Local Union or the workforce resisted change.
Industry Week's article details many process innovations that workers originated and work rule changes that were obviously accepted by the Local Union leadership.
In other news reports, a company spokesperson says the Sparta plant's work will be shifted to Phillips’ other North American plants, which may include Mexico or Canada. Where they move the work can indicate why they are closing the plant.
It is unclear whether Phillips sought wage and benefit concessions from the Local Union or tax breaks from local and state government. The prospect of the Local Union “just going to have to do a lot of negotiating [to do]” could involve developing a plant-closing agreement that will cushion the blow of the closure for plant employees, their families, and the Sparta community.
Plant-closing agreements typically provide some form of severance pay, worker retraining & placement assistance, and occasionally provide the opportunity for the workers to relocate and work at the location where the manufacturing work is being transferred. It remains to be seen what the Local Union and Phillips will agree to.
Circumstances like this impose hardship beyond the ranks of the employees. The empathy of some writers here is evidence of that.
After the exhilaration of being recognized as an Industry Week ten-best plant, the 2012 closure announcement must be a staggering realization for everyone in Sparta.
Regardless of your opinion about Unions or the Local Union leadership, we can only hope — and pray — that Phillips will be a good corporate citizen and agree to plant-closing provisions that diminish the impact upon plant employees, their families, and the community of Sparta.