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WASHINGTON, June 5, 2026 — The IAM Union (International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers) issued the following statement blasting Whirlpool Corporation’s latest round of layoffs at its Amana, Iowa, manufacturing facility, affecting 288 IAM Union Local 1526 (District 6) members, effective July 5, 2026:
“Whirlpool continues to twist the knife in the back of the workers who built this company and in the community that has carried it for generations. These 288 layoffs are not a business decision. They are a betrayal, the latest in a long and disgraceful pattern of corporate abandonment that Whirlpool has refused to stop, explain, or reverse.
“Let’s count what Whirlpool has done to the Amana community: approximately 250 workers were laid off in July 2025. Nearly 400 more out the door on March 9, 2026. Now, 288 additional members are receiving pink slips before the Fourth of July. They won’t even be able to work the last two weeks, since the facility is shutting down two weeks before their last day. A facility that once employed more than 3,000 skilled union workers is being gutted not because the work has disappeared, but because Whirlpool has chosen to do it in Mexico instead.
“IAM research shows Whirlpool has been aggressively expanding its manufacturing footprint in Mexico, recently completing a major refrigerator plant expansion in Ramos Arizpe, Coahuila, in 2024, investing $65 million into its Celaya, Guanajuato facility, and designating Mexico as the sole producer of its French Door refrigerator line, a product exported almost entirely back to American and Canadian consumers.
“We sent a letter to Whirlpool Chairman and CEO Marc Bitzer months ago demanding a meeting, demanding answers, and demanding a real commitment to the Iowa workforce. Bitzer has not responded. The silence from Whirlpool’s boardroom is deafening and inexcusable.
“We are done asking for help from the current elected officials. We need intervention, accountability, and action. Our members sent these elected officials to Washington and to Des Moines to fight for them. This is that fight. If they can’t take on this fight, then we will elect candidates who will.
“To our 288 IAM members facing layoffs on July 5, your Union will not abandon you. We will continue to fight for every right, every benefit, and every resource you are owed. And we will continue to hold Whirlpool accountable at the bargaining table, in the halls of Congress, and in the court of public opinion until this company answers for what it has done to the working families of Amana, Iowa.”
IAM Union Local 1526 members at the Amana facility produce refrigerators sold under the Whirlpool, KitchenAid, Maytag, and Amana brand names.
The IAM Union (International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers) is one of North America’s largest and most diverse industrial trade unions, representing approximately 600,000 active and retired members in the aerospace, defense, airlines, shipbuilding, railroad, transit, healthcare, automotive, and other industries across the United States and Canada.
