Tower Plant Move to Affect Nearly 500 Employees

Earlier this week, Tower Automotive announced that in 2005 it will move production of Dodge Ram frames from its facility in Milwaukee to a plant in Mexico. In response to this news, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel ran a story detailing the impact this move with have on Wisconsin's manufacturing base. According to the Sentinel report, nearly 500 Milwaukee factory workers will lose their jobs as a result of the move. Almost 80,000 factory jobs have already disappeared from Wisconsin since 1999, the article stated.

MILWAUKEE — Earlier this week, Tower Automotive announced that in 2005 it will move production of Dodge Ram frames from its facility in Milwaukee to a plant in Mexico. In response to this news, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel ran a story detailing the impact this move with have on Wisconsin’s manufacturing base.

According to the Sentinel report, nearly 500 Milwaukee factory workers will lose their jobs as a result of the move. Almost 80,000 factory jobs have already disappeared from Wisconsin since 1999, the article stated.

After the move, the only product to be built on Tower’s Milwaukee assembly line will be frames for Ford Ranger trucks. The line currently employs about 90 people.

Duane McConville, president of the Smith Steel Workers DALU 19806, the largest of seven unions at the Milwaukee plant, told the newspaper that the seven Milwaukee Tower unions are evaluating their legal options to determine whether they can challenge the decision to move the assembly line to Mexico.

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