Wisconsin set a record for unemployment claims in September of this year. News of the Janesville GM plant closing and other layoffs further rocked the state’s economic outlook.
Western Wisconsin has seen some layoffs because of the recession. S&S Cycle in La Crosse and Viola laid off 60 people this past summer. Hutchinson Technology announced last year it would have to let 165 people go in its Eau Claire facility. Some other companies have laid people off.
The fear of more to come remains strong, and was fueled last week when Ingersoll-Rand Co., which acquired Trane in June, disclosed plans to lay off several thousand employees and close some plants around the world.
We should emphasize it’s not clear whether Trane operations in La Crosse will be affected. Layoff plans were disclosed by Ingersoll-Rand CEO Herbert L. Henkel in a conference call with analysts, after the company announced third-quarter earnings.
The layoffs and associated plant closings will begin this quarter, be global in scope and touch all business lines, Ingersoll-Rand spokesman Paul Dickard told the La Crosse Tribune. The company is not disclosing the plant locations, he said.
Trane was founded in La Crosse in 1913 and remains a symbolic business icon. Several people expressed concern when the company was acquired by Ingersoll-Rand last summer, but others said the transaction could lead to a good fit and actually boost the La Crosse plant.
At the time of the latest Ingersoll-Rand announcement, about 2,265 people were working at Trane’s La Crosse facilities and another 57 hourly production workers were on layoff. Employment is up since early June, when Ingersoll-Rand completed its acquisition of Trane. At that time, about 2,150 people were working at Trane’s La Crosse facilities and another 126 hourly production workers were on layoff.
Ingersoll-Rand, based in Bermuda, makes a variety of products such as Thermo King refrigerated trucks and Hussmann refrigerated display cases. In La Crosse, Trane makes air conditioning, ventilation, heating and building management equipment, and systems for large commercial buildings.
In its third-quarter earnings report, Ingersoll-Rand said sales were up for the commercial part of Trane’s business, but residential sales declined because of continuing weakness in the U.S. housing market.
Earnings in the third quarter for Ingersoll-Rand overall declined to $227.7 million or 70 cents per share, from $266.6 million or 92 cents per share, a year earlier.
The company is accelerating productivity and cost reduction actions and has undertaken a major companywide restructuring to adjust costs to offset the slowing market. About $70 million of the projected $110 million in restructuring costs is expected to be incurred in 2008. The company’s actions are expected to generate $100 million in annual savings in 2009 and 2010.
Layoffs at Trane would be a blow to the local economy, and another sign of the times. A closing of the plant would be devastating, but it does not sound as if that severe move is imminent.
Of course, when times get tough, the fear of what might come can be almost as bad as the reality of what actually does occur. Workers are more likely today to be victims of a “psychological recession,” according to Judith Bardwick, an expert on workplace psychology. Many workers today feel that they are living in a chaotic world of job insecurity, she says in her book, “One Foot Out the Door.”
Bardwick claims that those workers are no longer committed to their companies or to their work responsibilities. “On average, 80 percent of the people in many companies are not engaged in the work that they do,” she said. “Uninvolved people take no interest in their work — they do just enough not to get fired and are content to keep doing the same thing over and over.”
The workers at Trane and elsewhere need to resist these tendencies. The company should help by being upfront and honest with its workers about their job status and providing services for those who are suffering from severe fears.
