Maytag factory in Iowa closes its doors

NEWTON, Iowa (AP) — The last washers and dryers were rolling off Maytag assembly lines here Thursday, and the 550 workers who built them were preparing to leave the 2-million-square-foot factory for the last time, ending a century of appliance manufacturing in Newton under the iconic brand name.

For many workers, it’s a sad parting with a company that has provided for their families over generations. Worries had mounted since May 10, 2006, the day officials at Whirlpool Corp., which bought Maytag last year, unveiled plans to close the Maytag corporate headquarters and the local factory that made washers and dryers, leaving about 1,800 local workers to find other jobs.

One of the workers leaving Thursday was Tootie Samson, 47, of Baxter.

A Maytag worker for six years, she was laid off in 2003 when the company was struggling to compete and was cutting costs and jobs.

Last year she was called back again by Whirlpool to help keep production on track until the final shutdown this week. During the three-year layoff she earned a two-year degree in interior design and fashion. She, her husband, a truck driver for a construction company, and daughter learned to live leaner.

She’s glad to be working when the final shutdown occurs, she said.

“When somebody dies and you don’t see the body, how do you know they’re gone? Not being in there when they close the doors, you don’t have closure that you get this way,” she said.

Factory workers develop close friendships, many co-workers become like family, she said.

“It’s definitely a death of sorts. A death to a lot of people’s lifestyle. ... How can the people that allowed this to happen live with themselves?” she said.

Many workers remaining have never worked anywhere else, and a large number of them have just a high school education. Finding a job that pays $30,000 to $40,000 with good benefits will be tough.

Company officials said about 100 workers will stay in the factory for a little while longer to oversee the shutdown.

A block from the town square, the former Maytag headquarters has 55 people left out of the 900 that once ran the nation’s third largest appliance manufacturer. Those who remain are responsible for the closure, a job expected to end in December.

At its peak, Maytag had 4,000 workers in Newton, a town of 16,000 people 30 miles east of Des Moines.

The closing is part of a larger plan to consolidate Maytag’s headquarters with Whirlpool’s in Benton Harbor, Mich., and shutter plants in Iowa, Illinois and Arkansas. It calls for cutting 4,500 jobs and chopping about $400 million in operating costs.

The machines once made by Maytag will be redesigned to fit on a Whirlpool chassis and built by workers in Mexico and a nonunion factory in Clyde, Ohio, where they earn significantly less than the union-represented workers in Newton.

Whirlpool spokesman Jeff Noel said Whirlpool had little choice but to take some major steps to fix the broken Maytag business. That meant eliminating higher cost factories and jobs.