General Electric layoffs set for Dec. 15

General Electric gave notice last week to 870 workers at its Bloomington factory that they might be laid off just days before Christmas.\nDec. 15 will be the first of two scheduled layoffs at the plant. GE announced last December it will eliminate 1,400 of 3,200 jobs at the side-by-side refrigerator plant at 301 N. Curry Pike in two phases. \nGE spokesman Terry Dunn said the layoffs are expected to be complete by June.\nGE originally announced the cuts Sept. 9, 1999. The company said it has invested $100 million in factory upgrades in order to comply with the Clean Air Act, which will go into effect in July 2001. The act requires GE to adhere to new guidelines in producing energy-efficient refrigerators.\nAfter the layoffs, the remaining Bloomington workers will continue to manufacture high-volume, mid-priced refrigerators. Lower volume, higher-priced refrigerator production will be moved to Mexico.\nSteve Norman, president of Local 2249 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, said the mood inside the plant was grim as workers received their notices.\n"There's a lot of emotion at the plant right now," Norman said. "It's finally starting to sink in."\nDunn said GE is working to reduce the number of layoffs. \n"Between early retirements, people who are being offered positions at other GE facilities and the use of temporary employees, we hope to minimize the number," Dunn said.\nNorman said he hopes the second layoff next year will be less than the 530 expected.\n"We're still producing refrigerators like crazy," Norman said. "We're working a lot of overtime and changing our lines over. There's an abundance of work. But now we have a whole group of people who have to figure out how they will save their homes and (support) their children."\nMayor John Fernandez said Bloomington will feel the loss of the GE jobs much harder than it did when Thomson Consumer Electronics closed its television factory in 1998 and cut 1,100 jobs.\n"Most of those people were able to find other jobs at a comparable wage," Fernandez said. "This time it will be tougher."\nThe Associated Press contributed to this report.