Whirlpool warns the workers it's about to toss out into the street not to protest the plant closing

[marmar]

:wtf:



from the Michigan Messenger:



Whirlpool warns employees not to protest shutdown
By Ed Brayton 2/25/10 7:45 AM


Benton Harbor, Michigan-based Whirlpool, a company to whose fortune U.S. Rep. Fred Upton (R-St. Joseph) is heir, is telling workers in its Evansville, Indiana plant — which is about to be shut down to move the 1,100 jobs to Mexico — not to protest the closing of that plant or they may risk their future employment viability. Sam Stein of the Huffington Post reports:

Activists planned a high-profile protest for this Friday, with AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka visiting the plant for the first time. But Whirlpool says the effort is futile — they are fully committed to shutting the plant down. The company, however, still seems quite wary of the potential for bad publicity. In a memo sent to its employees and passed along to the Huffington Post, Paul Coburn, division vice president for Whirlpool’s Evansville Division, offers a fairly explicit warning to his workers: If they join Trumka’s protest they would seriously risk future employment opportunity.

“In the last six months we have delivered strong results in spite of having to see a good deal of our equipment taken out of the building and moved to its new location. I believe that it is a testament to your character that you have continued to work hard to preserve the positive reputation of the Evansville workforce during this period,” Coburn writes.

“With this in mind, we have shared our concern with Local 808 leaders that these negative activities will only hamper employees when they look for future jobs. The entire community is aware and sympathetic towards the situation we all face. We fear that potential employers will view the actions of a few and determine whether they would want to hire any of Evansville Division employees in the future. We hope that this is not the case, but think it is certainly a consideration.”

A union official who passed the memo to the Huffington Post labeled it a “potentially illegal” effort to suppress speech and said that the local union is examining whether it violates labor law rules. The irony was not lost that a company closing a plant to ship jobs abroad would threaten workers with the possibility of unemployment even after it moved.

To add to the irony, Whirlpool received more than $19 million in money from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act — i.e. the stimulus bill that was designed to encourage job creation in this country. Upton voted against the ARRA, which I suppose might be regarded as noble since it meant voting against a grant for the company that makes him wealthy; then again, maybe he knew they were only going to be creating jobs in Mexico. .............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://michiganmessenger.com/35210/whirlpool-warns-employees-not-to-protest-shutdown

[Cerridwen]

1. That's not "irony," that's collusion of the "business" class.

We fear that potential employers will view the actions of a few and determine whether they would want to hire any of Evansville Division employees in the future. We hope that this is not the case, but think it is certainly a consideration.

The irony was not lost that a company closing a plant to ship jobs abroad would threaten workers with the possibility of unemployment even after it moved.

I might also call it extortion.

Too bad the union can't get the names of the business conspirators. That might be fun to watch.

[Mudoria]

2. Cross Whirlpool off the list of companies whose products I'd consider buying..

[Grand Taurean]

3. Fascism anyone?

https://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0BzgUudifBc68ZGUyNzA0MzAtZDZkZC00ZmZjLTkwY2ItNzBlZWRmNjI1ZTNm&hl=en

This is called extortion and it IS illegal!

[Hawkeye-X]

4. Time to go after Mr. Upton and recover the 19M he stole

and return it to the taxpayers of the US

The money is not his to move the plant to Mexico.

[WeDidIt]

5. We're in the market for a new washer and dryer

and Whirlpool will not make the cut now.

[Grand Taurean]

7. Seeing that they are going to export all of their production

we should look to somewhere else for appliances. LG? They are made outside the US but now Whirlpool is too.

Bosch has a large plant in New Bern, NC. Perhaps we should buy Bosch instead.

[Last_Stand]

6. So how did they get ARRA money...

...when they have a recent record of closing plants and shipping jobs elsewhere?

Disgusting.

Send a message to Whirlpool:
http://www.unionvoice.org/campaign/evansville_wa

[Go2Peace]

8. Blacklisting used to be illegal, did the Republicans change that too?

[OhioBlue]

10. no kidding. this is total BS. n/t

[jmowreader]

9. I have a Whirlpool laundry pair

I bought it specifically because it was made in the US. It's been just fine. We use it all the time, does exactly what it's supposed to and very well at that. I even paid a premium for the US manufacture--I could have bought a Mexican model that would have done the same thing for less, but I WANTED American production.

People will pay a little more for domestic manufacture. Too bad the bean counters can't see that.