Thread: Maytag is No More in Newton Iowa

Newton ,Iowa- The last washers and dryers rolled off Maytag assembly lines here Thursday October 25 2007 and the 550 workers who built them left the 2 million-square-foot factory for the last time, ending a century of appliance manufacturing in Newton under the iconic brand name.
For many workers, it was a sad parting with a company that has provided for their families over generations. Worries had mounted since May 10, 2006, the day officials at Whirlpool Corp.which bought Maytag last year, unveiled plans to close the Maytag corporate headquarters and the local factory that made washers and dryers, leaving about 1,800 local workers to find other jobs.

The closing is part of a larger plan to consolidate Maytag's headquarters with Whirlpool's in Benton Harbor, Mich., and shutter plants in Iowa, Illinois and Arkansas. It calls for cutting 4,500 jobs and chopping about $400 million in operating costs.
The machines once made by Maytag will be redesigned to fit on a Whirlpool chassis and built by workers in nonunion factories in Clyde and Marion, Ohio, where they earn significantly less than the union represented workers in Newton.
Mark Wickliff, 49, carried a sign that read "Maytag, the dependability people," among other personal belongings. He said he'll return for a few more weeks to help ship out some equipment and close the plant down.
His family includes four generations of Maytag workers. After 26 1/2 years, he falls short of the 30 needed to retire with full benefits.
"It's just close enough to look for another job," he said.
Factory workers develop close friendships, many co-workers become like family, she said.
"It's definitely a death of sorts. A death to a lot of people's lifestyle ... How can the people that allowed this to happen live with themselves?" she said.
Many workers remaining have never worked anywhere else and a large number of them have just a high school education. Finding a job that pays $30,000 to $40,000 with good benefits will be tough.
Company officials said about 100 workers will stay in the factory for a little while longer to oversee the shutdown.
Work boots, cast aside by workers as they left the factory were strewn on the sidewalk by the employee entrance and some were hung over a fence where flowers and a flag had been displayed as a makeshift memorial.
A block from the town square, the former Maytag headquarters has 55 people left out of the 900 that once ran the nation's third largest appliance manufacturer. Those who remain are responsible for the closure, a job expected to end in December.
At its peak Maytag had 4,000 workers in Newton, a town of 16,000 people 30 miles east of Des Moines.
Whirlpool spokesman Jeff Noel said Whirlpool had little choice but to take some major steps to fix the broken Maytag business. That meant eliminating higher cost factories and jobs.
A mile north of the former Maytag headquarters is Newton Union Cemetery. There, in a family mausoleum, lies founder Fred Maytag.
The washing machines will no longer be made here, but the Maytag legacy remains deeply rooted in Newton.
Near the employee entrance a plaque in the shape of a cemetery headstone hangs on the fence that says "R.I.P." A handwritten message is scrawled on the bottom: "I love you all."http://www.examiner.com/a-1010640~Century_old_Maytag_washing_machine_factory _closes_for_good.html