St. Cloud freezer factory plans more layoffs

[UpInArms]

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/business/national/11577546.htm

(free registration or try www.bugmenot.com)

ST. CLOUD, Minn. - A freezer factory here plans to pause production and lay off about 130 workers.

It would be the Electrolux factory's fifth pause in production and its second major layoff in less than a year. The new layoffs are effective May 23.

Tony Evans, a company spokesman, said the planned layoffs are due to a "softening of demand" in the freezer market. He said the workers will be called back if demand improves or other jobs open up.

In December, the company laid off 229 workers because of outsourcing.

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[losdiablosgato]

1. Again the Free Traitors hit the working man.

Outsourcing and off shoring are killing the middle class.

[NickB79]

2. That's one of the main factory jobs in St. Cloud

After Fingerhut went under and thousands of people lost their jobs there a few years ago, this is another serious blow to the city (I went to college at St. Cloud State University). St. Cloud is a city of only 60,000 and 70 miles north of the Twin Cities metro area. Everything else around it is still farmland. There are no new jobs forming for these employees to take.

BTW, to give you an idea of the ideological composition of this city and surrounding area, Bush actually came to campaign there last year during the elections to a turnout of 13,500 people. For a town of our size, this is huge. I'm almost tempted to say they are getting what they deserve, but I know a lot of awesome Dems at the college there that will have to suffer with them :-(

[Hong Kong Cavalier]

3. Another former student of SCSU here

:hi:
I have to agree with you: I hesitatae to say "Hah! You get who you vote for" becuase the workforce will even harder pressed to find jobs now in that town.

[justgamma]

4. Wonder what effect it'll have in my workplace?

We make their baskets. We were a supplier for Maytag in Galesberg. They are gone. Now Electrolux? This can't be good.

[amandabeech]

5. What would Kerry have done that would have saved these jobs?

Thrown up tariffs or quotas and withdrawn from the WTO? We didn't exactly nominate Gephardt, did we? Isn't this the thesis of Thomas Franks?

As much as I like Kerry, he and many other leading Democrats are major league free-traders. I'm just wondering how long it will be before there is a popular revolt over jobs, and some candidate somewhere vows to withdraw from the WTO and kick the illegal aliens out. He or she could have a very large popular appeal.