North Canton, OH, November 28, 2005-- A Hoover Co. production line that makes machines used to clean floors and carpets will shut down, likely eliminating 275 jobs by year end as the company's parent shifts work to lower cost plants.
The Eagle line's injection molding machines will go to El Paso, Texas, with final assembly of the floor cleaning extractors in Juarez, Mexico, said Jim Repace, president of Local 1985 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. The machines put water and cleaning liquid onto carpet or hard floors and sucks dirt and the water back into a container.
The North Canton plant has about 1,075 hourly workers, down from about 1,500 as recently as 2003.
The plant still will produce some steam vacuums, canister vacuum cleaners, commercial uprights and a small floor scrubber and polisher.
The announcement is the latest in a series of blows for Hoover in North Canton since then. In late 2003, union workers agreed to concessions in return for an extended contract through 2008. By June 2004, there were under 1,200 hourly workers when Maytag announced it was moving Hoover's headquarters to Iowa and laying off about 500 white-collar workers.
The union contends removal of the line violates language in its contract prohibiting outsourcing.
A court-appointed arbitrator, Paul F. Gerhart, ruled that the product line can be moved, but the ruling will be appealed in federal court, Repace told the Akron Beacon Journal Tuesday.
John Daggett, spokeswoman for Hoover parent Maytag Corp., based in of Newton, Iowa said Wednesday the company expects to start the line up again in its new locations early next year. He said that will mean a substantial reduction of jobs in North Canton, but he would not say how many.
About two years ago, the union workers agreed to concessions to keep jobs in North Canton and extended a contract through 2008.
Maytag is being bought by rival Whirlpool Corp. of Benton Harbor, Mich. Maytag shareholders are to vote on the deal Dec. 22.
