Union: 300 Visteon workers losing jobs
CONNERSVILLE, Ind. — Nearly half the remaining workers at the Visteon Corp. plant will lose their jobs today in the latest round of layoffs, union members say.
The Web site for the IUE-CWA LOCAL No. 919 union states that the company told union officials that approximately 300 people would be laid off.
The company planned to close the factory Sept. 14 when the union contract ended, but both sides agreed on an extension.
Visteon employs around 700 people at the auto parts plant, which has decreased from 890 employees when it was announced in February the plant was closing.
The factory, which at one point employed 3,600 people, produces vehicle heating and cooling systems.
Connersville native Joan McDivitt expected to be laid off, but will be kept for at least one more day.
“I just know my supervisor told me that I was not getting laid off Friday, but he did tell me, ‘Do not expect to stay clear to the end,’” McDivitt said.
“It’s terrible and sad. People are very depressed, but I still feel like everyone is doing a good job.”
McDivitt spent 20 years at the factory and had a stint on the assembly line before working in the quality lab. She said her bother, sister-in-law and cousin all work at the plant.
In the lab, she works as a product auditor and checks parts off the loading docks.
During the week, some people have been collecting addresses for Christmas cards, McDivitt said.
She also said that one person brought a camera to work to take photos for a photo book.
“I am not sure if that was allowed, but no one complained,” she said.
Alan Jeffries went to work his last shift Thursday evening. Jeffries said he planned to work the shift like it was any other shift because he and other employees have known for three years that their time at the plant would come to an end.
“It was a feeling among all the workers it was gone,” he said. “Being an industrial city and seeing past practices and knowing the actions of sinful man, we knew when they asked for concessions and lowering pay, they knew they were going to move the plant out of the city.”
Jeffries said he just completed his 22nd year working at the factory, where he has held multiple positions.
Born and raised in Connersville, Jeffries said he is the first person in his family to work at a factory that has had deep roots in the community.
Even with all of the plant’s history and meaning to the town, everyone has done the best job they can, he said.
“This is the thing that speaks volumes. There has been no damage to the building and people still putting out quality American-made parts,” he said.
“People are still taking pride in their jobs and all of those things could have been viciously different.
“Visteon is the loser, not the employees,” he added. “They are the ones losing a great work force.”