SALEM Union reports Eljer will close its plant

The VINDICATOR
By NORMAN LEIGH
VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU
SALEM -- The Eljer Plumbingware Co. plant will close at the end of February or shortly thereafter, says a spokesman for the union representing workers at the plant.
Joe Holcomb, a United Steelworkersrepresentative, said today that the company recently told union officials of the looming shutdown.
A spokesman for Jacuzzi Brands, the West Palm Beach, Fla., parent company of Eljer, was unavailable today to comment.
The company recently rejected a union concessions proposal to try to save the 921 S. Ellsworth Ave. facility, which makes cast-iron plumbing products, Holcomb said.
The union offered to surrender $2 an hour in pay, a week of vacation and post-retirement benefits for new hires.
Holcomb said the company intends to shift the business to China, where it can pay workers about $2 a day.
Employees are interested in trying to buy the business from the company through an employee stock option plan, Holcomb said. But he added that he doesn't think the company is interested.
Jacuzzi Brands confirmed earlier this month that it is considering closing the Eljer plant because the cost to manufacture products in Salem is continuing to escalate.
The company "has reached a preliminary determination that continued manufacturing in Salem is not economically feasible," Jacuzzi Brands has said.
To be idled
Should the plant close, it would idle 215 hourly employees and 36 salaried employees.
Hourly workers make an average of $14 an hour, not counting benefits, Holcomb said. Salaried employees earn about $67,000 annually, but that's counting benefits, he added.