Case Tractor, a 180-year-old agricultural equipment firm in Racine County are laying off employees and moving work to Mexico, one year after workers won wage increases during a protracted strike.
Approximately one-third of the workers at the Mount Pleasant Case tractor manufacturing plant have been laid off. More layoffs are planned, according to the local United Auto Workers organization that represents the local workforce.
Rich Glowacki, chair of UAW Local 180's bargaining committee, stated, "It's really sad to see because Case used to be one of the premier employers in southeastern Wisconsin." "The majority of individuals essentially stated that their lives will proceed in a better direction after being hired by Case. That whole thing is a fairy tale now.
The company's larger plan to shift employment to Mexico in order to save costs—which follows recent stock buybacks and robust corporate profits—includes the job losses.
Employees at the Mount Pleasant, California-based CNH Industrial company started to hear rumors in February and March about a "rebalance" that would shorten the production line in response to "market conditions," according to Glowacki.
On April 1, that "rebalance" went into force, putting about 220 of the 660 employees at the plant on a "indefinite layoff."
Less than a year after CNH and the union settled on a new contract that included pay raises, increases in shift premiums, and classification upgrades, there are layoffs. The strike, which ran from May 2022 to January 2023, was put to an end by the agreement.
According to Glowacki, the firm has communicated to the local United Auto Workers (UAW) that it intends to carry out further layoffs at the Racine County facility, with the goal of reducing the number of employees to approximately 170 by 2026. He claimed that the workers had returned to a hostile work environment and that the cuts felt like punishment for the strike.
If affected employees are placed on layoff for a shorter period of time than their tenure with the company, the company may call them back. However, a large number of individuals laid off had little experience.
"A number of them were new hires, but some would have had significant recall rights—they received three or four years," Glowacki stated.
Several attempts for comment have not yet received a response from CNH Industrial.
According to Glowacki, the layoffs would affect a lot of people.
He declared, "It will harm my membership as much as it will harm the community." "As long as their bottom line is big and fat, corporations don't seem to care how much they hurt whoever they hurt."
Racine County has been associated with Case for so long that Jerome I. Case, the founder of the corporation, is honored in the name of one of the largest high schools in the county. The mascot of the high school is based on the eagle trademark that the corporation adopted in 1865. This trademark was inspired by the eagles that Wisconsin-based Union Army soldiers carried into battle during the Civil War.
Authorities respond to the layoffs
The effects of the layoffs will go beyond municipal lines, according to an email from Mike Rosenbaum, the president of the village of Sturtevant in Racine County.
"It's a tremendous loss for our community whenever a company fires employees," he stated. "Families in the middle class already struggle due to the high cost of living, and now they have to deal with one or more family members losing their jobs."
Rosenbaum criticized the answers given by political figures.
"We would see our top leaders here chatting with the Case executives if they truly cared about us," he remarked.
According to a representative for the state Department of Workforce Development, as of Tuesday, the organization had not yet received a notice of layoff from CNH. According to the spokeswoman, the Southeastern Wisconsin Workforce Development Board has made contact with CNH and local authorities in an effort to provide impacted workers with services.
According to the spokeswoman, DWD has received a complaint that may lead to an inquiry into potential infractions of state regulations pertaining to layoffs and business closings.
The layoffs prompted U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin to write a letter to CNH CEO Scott Wine, who is retiring this summer.
Baldwin begged Wine to scrap his plans to shift production to Mexico in the letter.
The move, in her words, is a "slap in the face" to the company's legacy of manufacturing agricultural equipment in Racine County, which dates back before Wisconsin became a state, as well as to the workers.
Baldwin wrote to Wine, "Your employees in Racine are being told their services are too expensive and are no longer welcome, despite delivering record profits for your company." "The typical employee at your Racine facility makes $52,000 a year. You made $18 million, or about 350 times that, last year. You made $22 million in 2022 and $44 million in 2021.
Baldwin added that the company's stock buyback expenditures for the previous year totaled $652 million, which is four times higher than the $150 million it aims to save through layoffs.
Baldwin wrote, "Even though I am disappointed in your recent leadership of CNH, there is still time to change course." "I implore you to renew your dedication to your American labor force, especially the employees in Racine who have brought your business its all-time high profits."
