Johnson Controls moving 1,065 jobs to Mexico
March 31, 2004
Milwaukee (Bloomberg) -- Johnson Controls Inc., the world's second-largest maker of automotive interiors, said it will move production of sun visors to Mexico, resulting in the loss of 1,065 factory jobs.
About 885 workers in Holland, Mich., and 180 employees at a Glasgow, Ky., site will lose their positions, said spokesman Bill Dawson. Johnson Controls, employs a total of 1,312 at the Holland factory and 325 at the Glasgow plant, he said.
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(Lansing, March 30, 2004, 12:49 p.m.) Governor Jennifer Granholm is reacting to another big hit to West Michigan's manufacturing jobs.
Monday, Holland's largest employer, Johnson Controls, announced it is cutting 885 jobs from its Southview plant in Holland.
The sun visor production line is moving to Mexico in the next 18 months. Neither the state nor the city had been given a warning.
24 Hour News 8 went to Lansing Tuesday to get Governor Granholm's reaction to the decision. She says she was clearly disappointed by the announcement that will take another chunk out of Michigan's workforce. Granholm says she understands the impact this kind of announcement has on the city of Holland, and now is the time to mobilize and take a page out of the book from a neighboring city that went through a similar job loss. The Governor referred to the massive job losses at Pfizer in Kalamazoo, and how the community came together after that announcement.
Holland Mayor Al McGeehan, representatives of the MEDC, as well as Consumer and Industry Services Director David Hollister met for a conference call today trying to develop a plan to help replace those jobs. The Governor says she will talk directly with Mayor McGeehan later this afternoon. |
