Thread: Sources say Nebraska plant to close

Sources say Nebraska plant to close

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) -- Newell Rubbermaid, the owner of the historic Vise-Grip brand and its plant in DeWitt, will tell the remaining 300-plus employees next week the plant is closing at the end of October, the Lincoln Journal Star is reporting.

The production will be transferred, at least in part, to China.

And with it will go a piece of Nebraska's 20th century industrial legacy and a big part of the village of DeWitt's livelihood and history.

If true, the closing is bound to be devastating for the Saline County village of 572, and for its region. DeWitt is about 16 miles northwest of Beatrice.

The Journal Star has based its report on information from an employee and a Nebraska civic leader. Both asked not be identified for fear of retaliation against plant employees.

Other plant workers told the Beatrice Daily Sun newspaper they have signed agreements not to disclose company information or risk being fired.

Employees told the Journal Star a meeting is set for Wednesday to announce news at the plant.

Village Board Chairman Randy Badman said the village has not been officially informed of anything. But he acknowledged the rumors and the common knowledge that employees expect an announcement this week.

The state of Nebraska's Workforce Development reaction team is expected to be at the plant next week to help people losing their jobs, the employee said.

But Terri Johnston, director of administrative services, for the state's Workforce Development agency, said she had no indication the state's team was alerted to the closing.

Under federal law, in most circumstances, companies are required to give the state and employees 60 days notice of a plant closing. The meeting Wednesday would be just short of 60 days to the end of October.

Company spokesman Ira Gleser refused to comment on what he called speculation and rumor about the plant. He would not confirm or deny plans for Wednesday's employee meeting.

Vise-Grip has a celebrated history in DeWitt and Nebraska.

Danish immigrant Bill Petersen developed his first pair of locking pliers in 1915, according to popular histories. He patented the device in 1924 and began production at his blacksmith shop in DeWitt.

By 1928, the company had more than 600 employees.

When Petersen died in 1962, his family took over. The business was eventually renamed American Tool Companies.

American Tool sold out in 2002 to Newell Rubbermaid, a minority owner since 1985. Since then, the DeWitt plant has operated under the name of Irwin Industrial Tools, a company American Tool bought in 1993.

Vise-Grip is one part of one brand, Irwin, that is among six tool brands produced by Newell Rubbermaid, more well known for its food containers.

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LET ME GUESS. THEY HAVE BEEN HIRING ILLEGALS FOR YEARS AND YEARS. NOW THAT THEY CANT DO THAT ANYMORE, THEY WANT TO MOVE TO CHINA. SO IF THIS COMPANY DOES NOT WANT TO HIRE AMERICANS, SHOULD AMERICANS BUY THEIR PRODUCTS? YOU KNOW THE ANSWER. VOTE WITH YOUR WALLET.

This is really a very big issue. We need to exert pressure on both parties to change things so that American companies that move elsewhere lose all tax breaks and are fined. We have to see to it that businesses staying in the US is in their best financial interest!

DJ: Excellent suggestion, heavy fines and loss of assets for destroying local economy.

Maybe cheap foreign copies of the plant's products are flooding the american and world markets. When will americans learn not to buy cheap, inferior, Red China products.

Local State Nation & World Obituaries Elections 2008 VideoWorkers at Neb. Vise-Grip plant told of closure
By NATE JENKINSWednesday, Sep 03, 2008 - 04:46:00 pm CDT
DEWITT, Neb. - Gary Oden knew for weeks that the plant in this village where he has spent the last 19 years helping build Vise-Grips, one of Nebraska's most famous products, would be shutting down.

But he still wasn't completely prepared for the meeting at 5:30 Wednesday morning.

He and the rest of the 330 employees at the plant were officially told the bad news, the kind that has stung workers in upper Midwestern states for years but is relatively uncommon in Nebraska: The plant is shutting down. Most of the work is moving to China.

"It's a kick in the head," Oden said from a DeWitt bar where employees gathered to discuss the announcement and "try to forget about it."

"Jobs sent overseas from a place like Detroit is different from jobs leaving from a place like DeWitt, Nebraska," he said, referring to DeWitt's small size.

The factory in downtown DeWitt for eight decades has largely defined, and populated, the town of about 570 people. Surrounded by farmland, DeWitt sits 10 miles west of U.S. 77 in southeast Nebraska, about 33 miles from the state capital of Lincoln.

A brick sign in front of City Hall is emblazoned with the Vise-Grip emblem, along with a picture of William Petersen. The Danish immigrant and blacksmith invented the tool nearly 90 years ago when trying to find a way to clamp down pieces of metal while he worked on them.

He got a patent for the tool in 1924. Fourteen years later, a plant was built downtown. Employment steadily climbed from 37 people in 1938 to more than 700 in the 1990s.

At the end of October, it will be empty.

"This is going to really hurt this town," said DeWitt resident Sam Kirchof, who has worked at the plant for 16 years. Asked whom he blamed for the plant closure, Kirchof said simply, "The economy is going to China."

The closure is sure to rattle more than the town's residents and the plant's workers.

Vise-Grip is an iconic name in Nebraska, one of the most famous products invented or developed in the state, along with Kool-Aid, raisin bran, and the Reuben sandwich.

A spokesman for Irwin Industrial Tools, which operates the DeWitt plant, said the decision was a tough that didn't reflect on the quality of the work performed by DeWitt workers. Operations need to move to China, he said, to help lower the cost of Vise-Grips.

Irwin is part of Newell Rubbermaid, a company mainly known for its food containers.

"We live in a global marketplace," said the spokesman, David Doolittle. "Consumers want a quality product at a lower price, and we've been forced to take this action" to better compete.

He said sales have declined the past few years as imitations of Vise-Grips came on the market at lower prices.

About 50 of the employees at the plant make specialty Unibit drill bits. That production will move to a plant in Gorham, Maine, where Irwin manufactures another type of drill bit.

Severance packages offered to employees at the DeWitt plant include pay that Doolittle said will make up the difference between unemployment insurance and employees' current wages.

Petersen died in 1962. The business was eventually renamed American Tool Cos., which sold out in 2002 to Newell Rubbermaid, a minority owner since 1985.

The plant went up for sale Wednesday, Doolittle said.

"We have no idea yet if anyone's interested."

On the Net:

Newell Rubbermaid: http://www.newellrubbermaid.com/newellc ... stid200992

A service of the Associated Press(AP)
http://www.fremonttribune.com/articles/ ... vf8so3.txt

PRODUCTS MADE IN CHINA ARE NOT REALLY CHEAPER...IT JUST SEEMS THAT WAY. THEY ARE ACTUALLY MORE EXPENSIVE. IF YOU BUY AMERICAN MADE, THE PRODUCT LASTS. IF YOU BUY MADE IN CHINA YOU HAVE TO KEEP REPLACING THE ITEM OVER AND OVER AGAIN. YOU THINK YOU ARE SAVING MONEY, BUT IN THE LONG RUN IT COSTS MORE IN REPLACEMENTS.

TAXES AS IMPORTS AND AMERICANS WILL NOT BUY!

THEN NEW AMERICAN BUSINESS IN DEMAND, VIOLA.

THE GOVERNMENT AND COMPANIES KEEP TELLING US LONG ENOUGH THAT IT IS CHEAPER IN HOPE THAT AMERICAN WILL FORGET AND ACCEPT THE COST.