Whirlpool to outsource refrigerator manufacturing to Mexico

The Benton Harbor-based Whirlpool corporation, which recently received a $19 million dollar stimulus grant from the Dept. of Energy to develop smart grid capable appliances, is moving forward with plans to close it’s Evansville, Indiana refrigerator plant and build a new plant in Mexico.

KCRG TV-9 reports that Whirlpool plans to close the plant in June, eliminating 1,100 full-time jobs. Union members are angry that the company is collecting public subsidies while eliminating jobs.

“Whirlpool is a bad corporate citizen who is twisting this country’s desire to reduce energy usage and using it to export jobs,” said [Industrial Division of the Communication Workers of America] President Jim Clark. “We are pushing hard to ensure that good intentions on going green don’t help fund loss of good manufacturing jobs.”

The local and the Division also are planning informational protests at retailers such as Lowes and Sears because they sell Whirlpool products.

Though the company announcement on the plant closing cited “excess capacity” as a driver, Whirlpool will be building a new plant to expand its complex about 100 miles from the U.S. border. The refrigerators are primarily for the U.S. market.

Whirlpool sells the refrigerators, which have freezers on the top, under the Amana, Roper, Maytag, Kitchenaid and Kenmore brand names.

The Whirlpool factory is a major employer of blind workers in the Evansville area, Tristate Homepage reports, and the Evansville Association for the Blind has issued a pleas for help in finding new opportunities for its members.

Whirlpool is also expected to benefit from state rebate programs that promote the purchasing of newer, more efficient appliances.