TIMKEN CO. Company to close three aging plants

The governor said he will talk with company and union officials.
CANTON (AP) -- The Timken Co. plans to close three Canton bearings plants that employ 1,300 workers because of declining production and shift most of the operations to other U.S. plants.
After the announcement Friday, angry workers streaming from one century-old plant blamed the company's management for failing to negotiate with them to make the plants more competitive.
"There's people who work in here who are third and fourth generation," union vice president Bill Wright said outside the plant as a worker shouted obscenities about Timken. "These are the people that made the original sacrifice to get the company into the position they are today."
The company, which manufactures alloy steel and bearings for products from computer disks to oil rigs, said production has declined 27 percent over the past five years at the plants. The shutdown plan is consistent with Timken's overall goal to improve profitability, Timken said.
"It's just all about being competitive," Timken spokesman Jason Saragin said.
Another view
Jake Maydock has put in 38 years at one of the bearings plants, a brick facility that spans several blocks at Timken's Canton headquarters. The other two plants to be shut down are in nearby Canton Township.
"They don't want to negotiate. They've had this plan all along," Maydock said. "It's corporate terrorism."
Gov. Bob Taft said he would speak with company and union officials to "encourage them to get back to the table to find a solution that keeps these good jobs in Ohio."
Production of the bearings will be done cheaper at other plants, the company said. No time line was set for closing the plants, but analysts and employees said they have been told the shutdown will take two to three years.
Timken and its union must negotiate whether employees will be transferred to the company's other plants, Saragin said. The closing plants are some of the company's oldest facilities, including its first one built in 1901.
Timken's Canton-based steel operations are not affected by the decision. The company employs 4,800 in the Canton area and about 26,000 worldwide.
Effect on tax base
"They are our No. 1 taxpayer, far and above," said Tad Ellsworth, Canton's finance and service director. "Timken is part of the identity of Canton. You've got the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and you've got Timken."
He said the plant closings will have a devastating effect on the city's finances. He did not know how much taxpayer money the city will lose.
Company officials had warned employees that the bearings plants could close if they did not improve customer response and lower costs.
"We are disappointed that our talks with the union did not lead to the changes necessary to make these facilities viable," James W. Griffith, Timken's chief executive officer, said Friday in a news release.
Stan Jasionowski, president of Steelworkers Local 1123, said workers in the affected factories have cut costs and increased production in recent years.
"We've done everything in the past that we can do to help this company," he said.
Timken has been troubled for several months, but it doubled earnings to $28.4 million in the first quarter on record revenues of $1.1 billion as demand by industrial, steel and automotive markets increased by double-digit rate.