Olin Moves Winchester Operations from Illinois to Mississippi
Olin Corp. (NYSE: OLN) has announced that its Winchester centerfire operations and approximately 1,000 jobs will be relocated to Oxford, Mississippi (Lafayette County). The company’s decision follows two failed ratification votes by members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, in which employees twice rejected a union proposal that would have allowed Centerfire Operations to remain in East Alton, Illinois. The company informed the unions in August that it was considering relocating operations to Oxford to enhance the competitiveness of its operations. The company engaged in discussions with union leaders over the past two months, but Olin’s final offers were rejected, so Olin decided to move its operations down South.
Olin’s relocation decision was influenced by an incentive package offered by Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour. According to Business Week, the Mississippi State Development Authority will give Lafayette County $25,000,000 “to build a new 500,000-square-foot building for Olin.” The new publicly-owned Olin plant will be built near the current Winchester facility in Oxford. Lafayette County is also “providing the site and site preparation work.” CLICK HERE for more details from Business Week.
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I guess the Chicago “obamacommies” don’t like mississippi anymore.
The north lost more jobs due to union greed, serves them right
I feel bad for anyone put out of work by this, but it seems like a no-brainer to move a gun company to a place where it will be appreciated.
That is a sad thing for a lot of families. That part of the state is pretty depressed already.
I DO NOT feel bad for these workers! They have the right to accept what Olin offered them and they also have the right to become union free if they want. In an economy that is so bad, it seems like the greedy Unions are the only workers Unwilling to accept pay freezes or cuts so that they can maintain their jobs. And I was a Union member and VP of my Union. I know how they work. Unions are ruining the country. Would you rather buy a T-shirt that was union made for $20 or one made overseas for $10? If the Union made items were close to the same price…I’d buy American all day long, but $$$ is $$$ these days. Just my take…
So the State of Mississippi gives the County $25 million to subsidize a corporation which is already feuding with its employees…
Thanks again, Unions for nothing! SAD…Olin employees weren’t exactly starving…now they can join the rest of us. At least the jobs didn’t go to Mexico!
its easy to blame unions, fact is they are now only about 7% of the workers nowdays. do you even know what olin offered? could have been huge pay or benefits and in and industry that is still booming who in their right mind would accept that? I havent heard of many executives taking pay cuts in the down economy.
old pete…it’s irrelevent what Olin offered to some extent. The workers had the choice to take what was offered or become unemployed. In today’s economy…you eat crow, suck it up and keep your job….unless you know you have something better waiting. I bet there will be many thousands of workers begging for those jobs in Mississippi for Whatever Olin is offering as pay.
the debate over the cause is moot to an extent. none of us know the full story and pointing fingers and villainizing one group as the root cause gets us nowhere. i will chose to personally avoid the products due to my membership in organized labor. even as a defeat to union brothers i can understand the economic motivation to move a manufacturing facility to an area with lower overhead costs and a local government willing to subsidize such a move. i am still glad to still at least see the jobs remain in the united states, in my career i have packaged up far too many companies being shipped to foreign shores. i personally have been employed as an outside contractor with atk and federal, so those who will pay my bills will get first chance at my business and that is my choice, feel free to have your own and your own opinion. at least we can hopefully agree on being able to have the freedom to do that.
i work at this plant .we go thru the ringer with management all the time. prety soon we wont have to worry about jobs going to mexico because the american people will be getting wages like them.3$ hr,5$hr jobs anyone? olin is just greedy. we make 2million bullets a day!! and that aint enough.the whole work system is divide. at olin you put your family at risk ever day dont forget people making bullets is a dangerous job. lead exposure capps blow up ,bullets fires in tubs etc.workin a dangerous job should have benefits
not everybody in the union voted against the contract. i voted for it.no, i didn’t like it, but what ya gonna do. olin made 38 million in profit in the second quarter of ’09. thats profit, not total sales.then they want us to take a pay cut.the people in miss. don’t know the kind of place there dealing with. they don’t anymore give a damn about them anymore than they do us in illinois.they have been trying to sell winchester for years now, and that’s what this is all about to them. they will sell the place as soon as they get moved to miss.it’s the state of miss. that is paying for the new building. there giving olin 25 million to fianance the move. olin has no risk in doing this.owens corning is the best possibilty in buying it, and if they do, they will leave any military production there( 30 percent of the operation), the rest they will move to mexico.that is, if they still have any gov. contracts.no dobt, with the poor quality of the work they will get, those gov. contracts will go to another company.so in about 10 more years, miss. will be left will a big 100 mil. dollar building that they will be storing a lot of air in and nothing eles.oh sure, they will be all nice and cool about things at first, but after everything is down there, and they have ya’s over a barrel, the claws will come out and the fur will fly.and the people in oxford will see what they are really like.