Whenever the expected layoffs at Whirlpool Corp. in Evansville come, workers will get at least 60 days notice, thanks to the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act.
But for now, layoffs at the plant are not expected until at least December or possibly January, according to company and union officials.
The company has not revised the number of layoffs it expects to make. In August, that number was projected to be between 300 and 500 and was expected in November.
The Evansville facility, one of the area's largest employers, has about 1,750 hourly workers. It has has about 350 salaried employees.
Deborah Castrale, a company spokeswoman, said the decision on how many layoffs there will be and when they will occur is being driven by next-year's projected sales and inventory levels of top-mounted refrigerators, which is the product the Evansville plant makes.
Sales of the top-mounted refrigerator are projected to be lower in 2007 and the company had planned to cut back on its inventory late this year in advance of the lower sales, Castrale said.
But sales recently have been better than anticipated, Castrale said, resulting in a reprieve for the Whirlpool work force.
Susan Ice, president of Local 808, which represents hourly workers at the plant, said because of the WARN Act, workers will be told two months before the layoffs occur. "All we've been notified of is that it (the layoff) has been delayed until December or January. They'll let us know," she said.
Ice said that workers have various reactions to pending layoffs. "Some are surprised. Some are scared. Some are calm. It's really a mixed bag. And everybody hates to have it," she said.
Workers with seniority would have a chance to transfer to other jobs, bumping those with less seniority.
The layoffs would be the latest in a series of work force reductions at the Evansville plant. Despite some work force expansion in 2000, the company has reduced its hourly work force from about 3,200 in May 1996.
The WARN Act is a federal law requiring employers to give advance notice of closings and layoffs.