Union officials say some 70 workers are being laid off today at the Maytag plant in Newton. U-A-W Local 997 President Ted Johnson says the layoffs were scheduled before the sale of Maytag to Whirlpool.
Johnson credits Whirlpool with trying to avert the layoffs. Johnson says Whirlpool tried to do some things through their sales and marketing staff in the three weeks they have owned the company to try and curtail the layoffs. Johnson says he doesn’t know how much impact Whirlpool had.
Johnson says it was good the new company made an effort to save jobs. Johnson says, “I know that we were very appreciative of their attempt, It’s more than we’ve seen in the past. Unfortunately we’re in a downward momentum. Frankly, it didn’t get like this overnight, and it’s not going to change overnight.” Johnson says that the layoff number likely would have been higher if the operation was still owned by Maytag.
