Union Fights to Keep 1,100 Jobs in the U.S.

About 5,500 union members, leaders and supporters rallied in Evansville, Ind., to fight to keep the Whirlpool plant there open.  

Whirlpool wants to close the plant so it can spend $110 million on a new facility in Mexico. Refrigerators manufactured at the Mexican plant mainly will be sold in the U.S. market. If the Indiana plant closes, about 900 members of IUE-CWA Local 84808 and 200 managers will lose their jobs.

IUE-CWA President Jim Clark said "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."

CWA District 4 Vice President Seth Rosen said that it's time that corporations in the United States take some responsibility for helping to reverse the economic downturn. "It's time for our government at all levels to hold corporations accountable for their behavior, especially when they have received millions in taxpayer dollars."

AFL-CIO President Rich Trumka, community leaders and activists and supporters across the region joined the rally. Clark and Rosen and about 40 demonstrators delivered petitions to the front door of the factory.

Whirlpool told workers not to participate in the rally, threatening them that "these negative activities will only hamper employees when they look for future jobs." IUE-CWA has filed an unfair labor practice charge.

Union leaders have been reaching out to state and local elected officials to find ways to keep the plant open. You can help - sign our petition today.