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USW, Parker Hannifin come to a shutdown agreement for Youngstown plant
By Kalea Hall
YOUNGSTOWN
The United Steel Workers and Cleveland-based Parker Hannifin have come to an agreement on a shutdown package for the company’s hydraulic gear pump plant in Youngstown, a USW representative said Monday.
That package will be presented to the 107 plant workers in the USW Local 2332 today.
“Last Thursday, the USW and Parker Hannifin successfully negotiated a shutdown package,” said Jose Arroyo, business representative of the USW District 1.
The offer includes enhancements to a severance package and health care considerations, Arroyo said. Ten people were offered a buyout.
Employees who elect not to take the severance package have the option to get company-paid health care from six months to two years, depending on the number of years worked.
Arroyo said the shutdown has an 18-month time line.
“We actually talked about the decision,” Arroyo said.
Arroyo explained the union asked if work could be brought back up to this plant from a Parker Hannifin plant in North Carolina. “That was unsuccessful,” he said.
The company announced in September that it saw no other option, but to shutdown the plant at 2701 Intertech Drive, where 137 work.
A weakness in a variety of markets the plant serves from construction to oil and gas and an increase in global competition led the company to even consider the close, a company spokesman said last month.
The company has said that 40 percent of the work will go to a plant in North Carolina and 60 percent will be outsourced to other Parker Hannifin locations.
Arroyo said the 60 percent will go to plants outside of the country.
“It is heartbreaking because this is my home Local,” Arroyo said. “I am the active vice president and the business representative and to see those jobs go abroad is crushing to the Valley.”
Parker Hannifin could not be reached to comment Monday.