Whirlpool Layoffs Rock Rural Iowa

WEBVTT
X-TIMESTAMP-MAP=LOCAL:00:00:00.000,MPEGTS:0

00:00.009 --> 00:05.599
Appliance manufacturer Whirlpool has announced
that it will lay off 651 workers from its plant

00:05.840 --> 00:08.470
in Amana, Iowa.
The company said that the layoffs,

00:08.479 --> 00:14.189
effective June 1st, are necessary adjustments
to production in response to consumer demand

00:14.189 --> 00:16.889
for the specific products being manufactured in
Amana.

00:17.120 --> 00:19.790
These include French door and column
refrigerators.

00:19.969 --> 00:22.670
Well, the company has said that tariffs are not
a factor in this move,

00:22.719 --> 00:26.540
the decision.
Nonetheless, triggered a political backlash of

00:26.540 --> 00:29.139
a different kind.
Reports have noted that the job loss

00:29.139 --> 00:35.099
announcement came after Iowa state legislators
voted in 2022 to reduce the duration of

00:35.099 --> 00:39.979
unemployment benefits that are available to
workers affected by layoffs and closings.

00:40.099 --> 00:44.139
Once 26 weeks, unemployment claims now max out
at 16 weeks,

00:44.180 --> 00:46.740
and recent efforts to restore the former
duration.

00:47.139 --> 00:50.500
Have fizzled.
The manufacturing sector in Iowa was the

00:50.500 --> 00:55.209
industry that saw the most layoffs in the past
year, with 7600 job reductions.

00:55.380 --> 01:00.500
A Newsweek report cited worries over the
dangerous gap in the state's economic safety

01:00.500 --> 01:04.540
net.
Iowa Federation of Labor AFL-CIO president

01:04.870 --> 01:08.419
Charlie Wishman called Whirlpool's cuts
outrageous.

01:08.555 --> 01:13.904
For a company that made $17 billion last year,
and he didn't hesitate to implicate the Iowa

01:13.904 --> 01:19.694
governor and state legislature, saying the
group continues to let rural Iowa die.

01:19.864 --> 01:23.275
Amana, Iowa has a population of just 400 people.

01:23.665 --> 01:27.934
The layoffs are said to be the biggest
announced in Iowa so far this year.

01:28.144 --> 01:29.985
Aymana Wells, this is manufacturing now.