Trane to cut 200 jobs at Fort Smith plant
by January 25, 2010 11:39 pm 107 views
Just a few weeks into the first year, more manufacturing jobs are leaving the Fort Smith area, according to this report from KFSM 5 News.
Union officials were notified Monday (Jan. 25) that Trane manufacturing will be moving more than 200 positions from their plant in Fort Smith to another plant in Florida. According to officials at Ingersoll-Rand, the parent company for Trane, that will break down to 197 hour production positions, and 15 salaried positions. The company employed around 500 in Fort Smith as of late 2009.
"The decision will help us better serve our customers on the east coast, and is not a reflection of current business conditions," said Paul Dickard, a spokesperson for Ingersoll-Rand.
Those jobs will be permanently transferred to a plant in Glendale, Fla., which officials say will result in permanent layoffs at the Fort Smith plant.
Dickard says those jobs will not be leaving the area immediately, though.
"This is a proposed plan, we expect to finalize this decision by February 19," Dickard said. "Of course, those numbers could be affected depending on fluctuations in productions levels or attrition or some other factors."
Dickard says the first phase of jobs will be transferred in the second quarter of the year, and the rest will be transferred either in the late third quarter or early fourth quarter.
The Trane news follows a Jan. 21 report by The City Wire that up to 400 Whirlpool jobs may be lost in August when a second shift of production ends.
Layoffs and closing of Fort Smith regional businesses and industries outpaced the number of callbacks and new job announcements during 2009. The metro unemployment rate began the year at 7.7%, hit a high of 7.8% and moderated back to 7.7% in November. Not since early 1993 has the metro unemployment rate been higher.
The number of unemployed in the Fort Smith metro area was 10,848 in November, up 52% over the 7,130 unemployed in November 2008. The December jobless rate for the metro area will be released Feb. 2.