Models of GE side-by-side refrigerators are displayed at the Bloomington plant in this photo from 2011. Staff photo by David Snodgrass
Flash back three years. It’s the middle of October 2010 and GE just announced plans to pump $161 million into its Bloomington plant over the next four years.
The facility on Curry Pike, which makes side-by-side refrigerators and was tabbed for closure just a few years before, hosts a plant-wide gathering. GE managers, government officials and union leaders appear. There’s a podium for speeches, complete with an American flag in the background. Employees wave pom-poms. Red, white and blue streamers fly.
GE is saying it plans to spend $93 million to turn the Bloomington plant into a “center of excellence” for side-by-side refrigerator manufacturing. That’s on top of $68 million in product-line redesigns and lean-manufacturing investments announced earlier in the month. About 200 jobs are set to be created, adding to the roughly 600 people the plant employs.
Now jump back to today. It’s been nearly two weeks since GE announced job cuts, plans to slash 160 positions from the plant’s current workforce of 522. Layoffs and early retirements are set to take hold next month, and Local 2249 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers is working to negotiate over terms.
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