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In February 2019, Schneider Electric announced they were closing the Peru, IN plant where electrical components have been produced for over 100 years, and moving the work to Mexico and other locations. The 300 highly-skilled IAM members working at the facility have since lost their jobs.
“I was crushed. I mean, I planned on retiring from there,” said IAM Local 2069 member Susan Seifried who worked at the facility for nearly 20 years. “Now my kids don’t have insurance. I got to find a job at 50. And then, not a whole lot of people want to hire middle aged people.”
“It absolutely is corporate greed and they don’t, they have not offered any explanation for it other than it saves the company money,” said Local 2069 member Chad Sanders.
The Schneider Electric plant in Peru is one of dozens of IAM-represented facilities that have closed during the Trump administration.
Since the announcement of the closure, the IAM proposed ways for Schneider to save money through wage and benefits cuts in exchange for saving these jobs.
“They wouldn’t accept it cause they’re greedy,” said Seifried. “It makes me mad that we have worked hard to make them money and we don’t get treated that well anymore.”
Watch the IAM’s video about the Schneider Electric plant closing on YouTube, Facebook and Twitter.
Watch all the IAM’s “Broken Promise” videos
“The way Schneider turned their backs on these members and the Peru community is sickening and disgraceful,” said IAM International President Robert Martinez Jr. “Something has to be done to stop the erosion of manufacturing jobs we’ve seen in the past few years. American workers make these companies what they are, then get left behind in the journey to find the cheapest labor.”
“Schneider’s closing of the Peru plant is just another example of the blatant disregard for American workers we are consistently seeing under this administration,” said IAM Midwest Territory General Vice President Steve Galloway. “The hard-working and highly-skilled members working there did everything that was ever asked of them, only to have their jobs shipped to Mexico and overseas. It’s appalling, disgusting and un-American to see working families treated this way.”
