Reply #61: TIMKEN (BIG *Co Supporter) Torrington Firm To Cut 190 Jobs

[UpInArms]

http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=15095924&BRD=2303&PAG=461&dept_id=478976&rfi=6

TORRINGTON-The third largest source of city tax revenue, the Timken Company, announced Tuesday that it is moving 190 Torrington jobs out of state.

The positions are all in Timken's automotive division, company spokesman Denise Bowler said. Timken specializes in precision-machined materials. The layoffs are to be phased in over time from Oct. 1 to June 31, 2006. Workers will have a chance to relocate, and those who choose not to will be offered severance packages.

Before this week's announcement, Timken had 350 salaried and hourly employees in Torrington, and contributed $242,567 in taxes to the city last year, according to documents in the tax assessor's office. The job cuts are not expected to affect Timken's 650 employees in Watertown.

The layoffs mark a second round of cutbacks since Timken's acquisition of the Torrington Company from Ingersoll-Rand in February 2003 for $840 million. Layoffs began in 2003 with 190 reductions when the company leased its fixed-wing aircraft production line to Fairfield-based Roller Bearing Company of America.

...more...

William and Mary Timken Canton OH Timken Co

$100,000

http://www.opensecrets.org/2000elect/other/bush/inaugural.asp

and

http://www.opensecrets.org/bush/ambassadors/timken.asp

William Timken, Jr.
$561,995 to the GOP*

President Bush nominated Ohio industrialist and major GOP contributor William Timken, Jr. in July 2005 to serve as ambassador to Germany. The post had previously been held by former Republican Sen. Daniel Coats.

The long-time head of the Timken Company, an automotive and industrial parts manufacturer, Timken was previously nominated by President Bush to serve as chairman of the Securities Investor Protection Corporation. Timken’s decision to shutter three Canton-area factories and cut nearly 1,300 jobs became fodder for Democrats during the 2004 campaign. One year before the layoffs, Bush visited a Timken plant to tout his job creation plan. Although Timken is of German descent, he has no diplomatic experience and does not speak German. According to a White House spokesperson, the president chose Timken because of his reputation as an “experienced executive.”

Timken and his immediate family made $568,239 in federal political contributions during the 2000, 2002 and 2004 election cycles. Of that total, $12,000 went directly to the Bush campaigns and another $100,000 went to the first Bush inaugural committee. Separately, Timken’s company directed $250,000 to the president’s second inaugural committee. None of the family's contributions went to Democrats. Timken also served as finance co-chair of the president’s re-election effort in Ohio and was listed as a Bush Ranger for the 2004 campaign, a title given to those who raised more than $200,000 for the president.

*Figures represent contributions from the individual and his/her immediate family from 1999-2004. Total includes donations made to Republican candidates and party committees, as well as the Bush-Cheney recount fund formed after the 2000 election and Bush's two inaugural committees.