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player ready...Komatsu Dresser Co., a victim of stiff competition and the lingering construction slump, said Thursday it will close a 200-worker plant in Libertyville.
The plant, which was remodeled three years ago at a cost of $25 million, then had 500 workers. It will shut down late next month, said officials at the company`s Lincolnshire offices.
Company officials had invited the United Auto Workers, which represents the workers, to offer last-minute solutions.
But UAW officials in Detroit complained the company had made up its mind to close the plant before asking their advice.
”While they are telling us privately that they`re going to close the Libertyville plant no matter what, they are deliberately trying to mislead the public into thinking they are seriously willing to listen to the union`s views,” UAW secretary-treasurer Bill Casstevens said Aug. 4.
The union and company have been on bitter terms since November, when the workers walked out but returned three days later under what the company said was its last offer. Their wages were frozen, pension benefits were trimmed and health-care contributions were boosted under the company`s proposal.
A 4-year-old joint venture between Komatsu Ltd. and Dresser Industries of Dallas, the company has been struggling in the U.S. to keep up with Caterpillar Inc., its major competitor.
The production of the company`s wheel-loaders will be shifted to its other facilities in Peoria; Chattanooga, Tenn.; Galion, Ohio; and Quebec, Canada.
The soon-to-be shuttered plant once was owned by International Harvester, which exited the construction equipment industry several years ago.