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The move is another example of TRW exporting jobs from the Winona area to Mexico and means more than 200 Winona-area TRW employees may face unemployment.
The 40 layoffs announced Thursday eliminate salaried positions at five TRW facilities in the Winona area — three in Winona and two in Galesville, Wis., and Ettrick, Wis., a TRW spokesman said in a news release. TRW also plans to relocate more jobs from its Winona Body Control Systems division to another TRW facility in Reynosa, Mexico, a move that “could impact the employment of about 100 additional Winona-area employees over the next seven months,” the spokesman said.
Those 100 employees expect to be laid off between November and February, said Ben Hovell, spokesman for the United Auto Workers union at the plant.
TRW, which employed more than 700 at its Winona plant before the layoffs, eliminated more than 60 hourly positions from its plant in Winona earlier this month.
Some of those positions were moved to the Reynosa facility, while others were eliminated entirely. About 200 TRW workers also lost their jobs when the company closed its Rushford, Minn., plant in 2006.
The recent layoffs are spurred by a continuing decline in the U.S. automotive industry, among other factors, a top TRW official said in the statement.
“This decision is not a reflection on the Winona operation or its workforce, but an action in response to our customers’ demands for reduced costs,” said Ken Kaiser, general manager of the company’s North American Body Control Systems division.
The TRW employees expected to remain after this round of layoffs are nonetheless uncertain about their long-term job security, Hovell said.
“A lot of people are angry because they have no reassurances from management,” Hovell said.
The laid-off workers will have access to expanded unemployment benefits through the Trade Adjustment Assistance program — which aids workers whose jobs are moved overseas — after Rep. Tim Walz and Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Norm Coleman lobbied for the benefits. Walz on Thursday reiterated that the layoffs underscore what he calls flaws in the North American Free Trade Agreement that make it easier for corporations to export jobs abroad.
Winona Mayor Jerry Miller, who called the layoffs “worrisome,” said he contacted Minnesota’s federal lawmakers Thursday night.
“The federal and state governments have to come up with a way of creating a more level playing field,” Miller said.
Mark Sommerhauser may be reached at (507) 453-3514 or at msommerhauser@winonadailynews.com
