Workers at Dayton, Cleveland facilities get notices
http://www.wvwnews.net/story.php?id=1961
La-Z-Boy and Whirlpool are http://www.wvwnews.net/story.php?id=4028 to new plants in Mexico, bringing job losses to hundreds of workers in Dayton and Cleveland, Tennessee.
La-Z-Boy employees in Dayton were told today that the cutting and sewing operation is being http://www.wvwnews.net/story.php?id=1632.
Kathy Liebmann, La-Z-Boy spokesperson, said the Dayton facility has over 2,000 employees, but she did not have a breakdown on those in cutting and sewing. A La-Z-Boy employee said it was around 750.
Ms. Liebmann said La-Z-Boy is closing a plant at Tremonton, Utah, but will keep its other plants open, including the one at Dayton. She said the 400 production jobs at the Utah plant will be spread over the other five plants.
She said workers in cutting and sewing will have an opportunity to train for available production http://www.wvwnews.net/story.php?id=511.Ms. Liebmann said the Mexico plant is slated to open in January.
Meanwhile, some 350 Whirlpool employees are losing their jobs at the former Maytag facility in Cleveland.
Those jobs are also going to Mexico as well as to Oklahoma.
Ms. Liebmann said the transition will take place over the next 18-24 months.
La-Z-Boy makes recliners and other furniture.
Kurt L. Darrow, La-Z-Boy’s president and chief executive officer, said, “Speed to market for custom orders is a tenet of our brand promise to the consumer and the strength of our U.S. facilities enables us to deliver on that promise. With its proximity to the U.S. and the lower cost structure inherent in a Mexican-based operation, we made the decision to transition our domestic cutting and sewing operations while streamlining the assembly aspect of production in the United States.
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