Labor & Employment Law

Tell Whirlpool: ?Keep It Made In America?Save Our Jobs?

By James Parks

The Whirlpool Corp. makes a big deal of its concern for the environment and the poor. But now, the company is about to throw 1,100 workers at its Evansville, Ind., refrigerator plant onto the streets and move their jobs to Mexico, where labor and environmental laws are weaker.

You can show solidarity with the Whirlpool workers, most of whom are members of IUE-CWA, by signing an online petition urging Whirlpool to reverse its decision and Keep It Made in America: Save Our Jobs. Click here to sign the petition.

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka will join Whirlpool workers at the Evansville plant Feb. 26 to deliver the petitions. The workers will then march from the plant to the IUE-CWA Local 808 union hall for a rally where Trumka, workers and union and community leaders will speak.

Whirlpool’s actions are “outrageous and unacceptable,” Trumka says. He points out that Whirlpool recently received $19 million as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act:

 Those are our economic recovery funds, not Mexico’s.

Too many people have lost their jobs. Too many jobs have been sent overseas. Enough is enough. Whirlpool’s management can’t take our money, shut down our factories and lay off our workers.

While workers worry about their futures, Whirlpool continues to make huge profits, with revenues of more than $4.8 billion in the past quarter alone. The company is spending $110 million to build the new plant in Mexico.

Whirlpool workers are ramping up their “Shame on Whirlpool” campaign, urging the company not to move the jobs to Mexico. The union is keeping a spotlight on Whirlpool, putting up billboards with the “shame” message and leafleting local stores, including Lowe’s and Sears, that buy Whirlpool products and planning other community events. Check out the “Shame” campaign here.

Says IUE-CWA President James Clark:

Whirlpool’s decision to shut down and move our work to Mexico is greed-driven and an atrocity. We know companies need to make money, but moving jobs out of the country during this economic crisis is shameful.

Full post as published by AFL-CIO NOW BLOG on February 20, 2010 (boomark / email).