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The new foreign owners of the Van Wert, Ohio car parts factory demand a 40% cut in pay (Times Bulletion, Ohio) and here and here. A lockout has been in place for 10 weeks. Armed guards are upholding the lockout. Welcome to the future.
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Re: us: foreign owners demand 40% pay cut, armed guards uphold lockout
Good catch. I bet they couldn't get away with this in Norway...
From the articles:
"The Van Wert plant formerly was owned by Teleflex Inc., but on Jan. 2, Kongsberg announced it had completed the acquisition of Teleflex’s automotive and vehicle businesses for $560 million. Headquartered in Kongsberg, Norway, Kongsberg reports annual sales of $1.57 billion.
The ownership change might be a factor in the current situation, Grubb said..."
"...stated Nancy Bowen, Van Wert County economic development director. "It's been a matter of us asking, 'what's the story' or saying 'let's negotiate, let's talk about it,' and there's been a standstill on that. There's no communication coming from [Kongsberg] on that."
"Bowen is convinced that the Kongsberg's intention from the start has been to move the plant to Mexico. She shared, "I think their strategy back from about late 2005, when they built that plant in China, when they built that plant in Brazil, they announced at those events that they were planning a major expansion at both those plants. Well the way that they are expanding is by contracting in other areas."
That would certainly fit what the company is telling their stockholders."
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