Add workers at Wolverine Corporation of St. Joseph and Stevensville and crews from Ameriwood Industries in Dowagiac to those being furloughed in the wake of the current pandemic. Both corporations recently dispatched WARN Act letters to the Michigan Workforce Development Agency in Lansing. Ameriwood’s impact, however, looks to be permanent.
In Dowagiac, Ameriwood’s notice of workforce reduction was received on Monday in Lansing. The impact for Ameriwood involves 79 workers at their Spaulding Street facility in Dowagiac. Company President Jean-Michel Fournier says in his letter to the state, “This reduction is a result of a significant downturn in our business and has become immediately necessary due to the halt in business caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and the Governor of Michigan’s ‘Stay Home, Stay Safe’ Executive Order, which has shut us down almost entirely.”
Fournier goes on to say, “Our parent company Dorel has been forced to make some hard financial decisions to survive this economy and this pandemic,” noting, “One of these changes is to repurpose the Dowagiac facility from a manufacturing operation to a Distribution and Warehouse Operation supporting Dorel.”
Production operations will be moved along with the remaining equipment to other facilities and Dowagiac will be converted to a Midwest Distribution Center. Fournier says, “This means a drastic change to the number of employees that will be needed going forward and the permanent elimination of a large number of jobs in Dowagiac effective immediately.”
Ameriwood’s reduction includes 3 non-represented, salaried professionals and 76 hourly, non-represented employees.
Fournier concludes his letter with the news that, “We expect this reduction in workforce will be permanent,” adding, “Employees whose positions are eliminated and who are terminated as a result of this organization will not have bumping rights. It is our understanding that they will be eligible to receive State Unemployment Compensation.”
Wolverine’s notice was posted today by the Michigan Talent Investment Agency impacting 58 employees on Tennis Court in St. Joseph and a dozen more at their Stevensville location on Lawrence Street for a total of 70 furloughed workers. All had been paid since plant closures on March 24th up through yesterday, April 14th, with furloughs beginning today for an indefinite period of time.
Laurie Hasse, Wolverine’s head of Corporate Human Resources, says, “Due to unforeseen circumstances relating to the coronavirus of 2020, Wolverine’s business has been severely impacted,” and adds, “We expect this impact to be temporary in nature, but the length of time is unknown.”
Those impacted at Wolverine are press operators in stamping & fabrication, GP-12, assembly, welding, rework, shipping, toolroom, maintenance, administration, support personnel, and management. Hasse concludes, “As the automotive industries return to business as usual, we anticipate that our operations will also resume. We expect it to be a slow return and as orders improve, employees will be returned to work.”
