Whirlpool to lay off 360 come November

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.nwanews.com/adg/national/201770/

BY LAURIE WHALEN

Posted on Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Whirlpool Corp. will cut 360 Fort Smith manufacturing positions Nov. 2 as the start of a previously announced layoff plan targeting 700 jobs at the Jenny Lind Road plant by mid-2008.

In October, the world’s largest appliance manufacturer said production of 22-cubic-foot refrigerators would be sent to a new facility in Ramos Arizpe, Mexico. About 730 Fort Smith jobs have been lost to that plant, which started making side-byside refrigerators in May 2006.

The plant employs about 2, 900 people. Company officials said about 2, 600 workers will remain in Fort Smith after the transfer of the refrigerator product line has been completed, down from 4, 600 workers as recently as 2005.

As global producers seek out efficiencies in other parts of the world, states such as Arkansas continue to take a hit on higherpaying manufacturing jobs.

At the end of December, manufacturing represented 195, 700 jobs in the state, according to the Arkansas Policy Foundation and Bureau of Labor Statistics. Arkansas manufacturing jobs peaked in 1995 when 247, 400 were employed in the sector.

In August, manufacturing jobs across the nation were down by 46, 000 compared with the same period last year, the bureau reported earlier this month. Manufacturing jobs are down 215, 000 for the year, according to the report.

FULL story at link.