In February 2018, Siemens announced they were selling the Dresser-Rand government business and services portfolio and closing the historic Wellsville, NY plant, ultimately putting nearly 250 IAM Local 1580 members out of work. The plant has been operating for over 100 years and the IAM has represented workers there since 1942.
Dresser-Rand in Wellsville is one of dozens of IAM-represented facilities that have closed during the Trump administration.
“We’ve been here for over a hundred years at this location producing stream turbines this entire time,” said IAM Local 1580 Vice President and 31-year employee Bryan Fanton. “We’ve made money here at Wellsville pretty much year in and year out, and we’re down now to about 140ish bargaining unit employees. And they’re all good machinists and they’re all going to lose their job here in the next five to 6 months.”
“It makes me feel angry that a company like Siemens can purchase something like us that has some pretty important duties when it comes to our government work, and just tear it apart and shut it down,” said Local 1580 member and 31-year employee Jim Lewis.
Watch the IAM’s video about the Dresser-Rand plant closing on YouTube, Facebook and Twitter.
Watch all the IAM’s “Broken Promise” videos
“Shameful actions like what Siemens did to these members in Wellsville should be denounced by our elected officials, not encouraged and rewarded,” said IAM International President Robert Martinez Jr. “The members who lost their jobs all have bills to pay. That doesn’t go away when your job does. The 250 families affected by this plant closing aren’t numbers on a balance sheet, they are human beings who should be treated with dignity.”
“The jobs at this plant, along with a good union contract, has supported these workers and their community for generations, and now it has all been ripped away from them,” said IAM Eastern Territory General Vice President Jimmy Conigliaro Sr. “They deserve better from Siemens and their government. They deserve an administration that will fight to protect their jobs from being outsourced when companies like Siemens turns abandons its workers and their communities.”