IUE-CWA Local 84811 workers are continuing to stand together against corporate greed to save good jobs in Wisconsin. IUE-CWA Local 84811 workers manufacture made-in-America room partition dividers at Hufcor Manufacturing which has operated in Janesville for over 120 years.
Linda Loveland, a forty-four-year member of IUE-CWA Local 84811 whose mother worked at Hufcor and whose daughter also currently works at Hufcor put it simply, “we are here standing together in solidarity to fight for good jobs for all.”
LA-based private equity firm OpenGate Capital bought Hufcor in 2017. In May of 2021, OpenGate announced plans to halt all production in Janesville and move over 150 jobs to Mexico.
“This used to be a mom-and-pop company that took care of its workers,” said Joe Nunn, Vice President of IUE-CWA Local 84811 and member of the negotiating committee. “Now, it’s turned into a classic example of a race to the bottom that leaves workers behind. With these private investment groups, you can’t make them enough money. We are rallying today for good American jobs and for the American middle class.”
Hufcor union workers were joined by fellow union members and community allies. The Southern Wisconsin Building Trades Council grilled brats. Speakers at the rally included Hufcor workers and IUE-CWA Local 84811 members Kathy Pawluk, Michelle Hilt, and Joe Nunn, Wisconsin AFL-CIO President Stephanie Bloomingdale, Madison Teachers Inc. (MTI) President Mike Jones, Madison Teachers Inc. Executive Director Ed Sadlowski and author John Nichols. Live music was provided by Brooke Nunn, daughter of IUE-CWA Local 84811 member Joe Nunn.
“When we come together, we have power,” said Stephanie Bloomingdale, President of the Wisconsin AFL-CIO. “Hufcor is not just a building, it is part of the fabric of this community, it is a community resource. Hufcor has stood over 100 years. Hufcor has been through two World Wars. Hufcor has been through not one pandemic, but two pandemics. It’s been here through a depression and right now, we are going to do all we can to not let this flock of out-of-state venture capitalists take this company and take these jobs out of the country.”
“We have a message for Andrew Nikou and OpenGate,” continued Wisconsin AFL-CIO President Bloomingdale. “It’s not ok to come into our communities and show workers the gate.”
Ed Sadlowski, Executive Director of the Madison Teachers Inc. said, “IUE-CWA Local 84811 workers are taking a stand because it is the right thing to do and are inspiring workers across the country to take a hard look at the fundamentals of what is right and what is wrong with our economy.”
Mike Jones, President of the Madison Teachers Inc. brought solidarity from Madison teachers and touched on how job loss impacts children and the larger south central Wisconsin community.
“An injury to one is an injury to all,” said Mike Jones, MTI President. “As someone who has taught children whose parents lost jobs at Oscar Meyer, whose families moved from Janesville to Madison because of GM, when something happens in our backyard it affects all of us. What do we tell our kids who want to work with their hands and build things and build our future when we ship these jobs out of the country? We can’t let vultures come in, pick the bones and just leave us after their done. These firms don’t think about the workers, or about the children and grandchildren workers are supporting.”
Kathy Pawluk, IUE-CWA Local 84811 Financial Secretary, explained, “We are out here to save jobs. To stop these vulture companies from destroying our jobs, our communities, and our country. Because that is what they’re doing, town by town, shop by shop, piece by piece.”
“Hufcor doesn’t exist because of the family that use to own it. Hufcor doesn’t exist because of some hedge fund owner,” said John Nichols, author and journalist. “There isn’t a factory in this country, there isn’t a business in this country, that doesn’t stand because of the workers that put it there. Workers make it happen and now some billionaire sitting by his pool in LA says I’m going to close a factory in Janesville and move it someplace where I can make a couple more bucks. Brothers and sisters this is the place it has to stop. The hedge fund owners have enough. They have their tax breaks and their pools. It’s time that they gave something back and withdrew the plan to close the Hufcor plant in Janesville Wisconsin and say we’re going to let it stand where the workers built it.”
Earlier in the day, workers met with Senator Tammy Baldwin who along with sending a letter to OpenGate CEO Andrew Nikou has crafted legislation to reform the private equity system and have companies take on additional financial responsibility for the future of companies they invest in.
Rally photos can be viewed at flickr.com/wisaflcio
Sign the petition to stand with IUE-CWA Local 84811 workers in the fight to save jobs
Local media coverage including clips in the Janesville Gazette and Channel 3 Madison
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