Union officials, Beebe visit about Whirlpool future (Updated)

Rick Nemeth and other union officials recently visited with Gov. Mike Beebe and his staff about their concerns with Whirlpool maintaining a refrigerator production plant in Fort Smith.

Sources told The City Wire that Nemeth, president of the United Steel Workers Local 370 in Fort Smith, and Local 370 Vice President Howard Carruth have visited with Beebe. The sources also said the union officials have met with Fort Smith Mayor Sandy Sanders and Fort Smith City Administrator Ray Gosack.

WHIRLPOOL FEARS
The future of the Whirlpool operation has grown cloudy in recent years.

Whirlpool made production cuts and layoffs causing employment in Fort Smith to drop from about 4,600 in early 2006 to less than around 1,000 today. In 2010, the company cut about 850 jobs at its Fort Smith operation, which left the employee count at 1,020 hourly and 110 salaried workers at the end of November. Whirlpool employees in mid-August reported that another 300 job cuts are planned for January 2012. Whirlpool officials would only confirm 250 hourly and 20 salaried job cuts are being planned.

In the late August comment, Whirlpool also said appliance demand in North America has returned to “recessionary levels.” The company said in its second quarter earnings report that industry shipments in North America would likely decline in the 1%-2% range, a shift from the previous expectation of an increase between 2% and 3%.

After months of denying rumors that the Fort Smith plant was under review, on Aug. 23, the company said “a study of options for the Fort Smith location” was underway. Sources have told The City Wire that results of the study could be made public as early as November.

Updated info: And on Tuesday (Oct. 4), the company confirmed that 22 salaried workers were laid off as part of a previously announced employee reduction plan.

“In July of this year we announced that, due to reduced demand for major appliances and unfair trade practices by foreign competitors selling refrigerators in the United States, approximately 25 salaried employees would separate or retire from the company by year end. Today 22 people were laid off,” noted a statement from Kristine Vernier, senior manager of global public and media relations for Whirlpool.

BEEBE HELP
Beebe Spokesman Matt DeCample said Monday (Oct. 3) that Beebe and staffers with his office and the Arkansas Department of Economic Development did meet with union officials. And while sources say Beebe committed to talking to top Whirlpool execs, DeCample said Beebe said “he would do all he could” to help keep the plant and jobs in Fort Smith.

DeCample would offer not insight on the process, but did say the effort is “being worked at the staff level” and Beebe has not yet talked to execs at Benton Harbor, Mich.-based Whirlpool.

Gosack said in the meeting with he and Sanders, Nemeth and Carruth were “very committed to doing what the union could do to keep Whirlpool in Fort Smith and preserve the jobs.” At the time of the meeting, the union officers were “concerned about employment levels in Fort Smith, but were maybe not sure about the plant closing.” Gosack said it was after the meeting that more info became public about the possibility of the plant closing.

‘EFFICIENT PLANT’
Gosack said he and Sanders “encouraged” them to gather a union delegation to visit with Gov. Beebe. He also said other recommendations were made, but those plans are “still in implementation phase, so its premature to talk about them.”

Sanders, who was employed for 32 years at Whirlpool’s Fort Smith plant and retired as the human resources manager, refused to speculate on the future of the plant. He did say the Fort Smith facility is “a very efficient plant” that should house more production.

“I would hope the study would reflect that, and show that not only would the plant stay open but the production would increase,” Sanders said.