By Brenda Showalter, The Republic
bshowalter@therepublic.com
About 122 workers finished their last day of work Tuesday at the Columbus plant of Baldor Electric Co.
As the shift ended at 3 p.m., employees filed out of the building, hugged and waved goodbye to their friends and co-workers as they drove away.
Many had been employed at the company for more than 30 years and had seen the company through highs, lows, and location and name changes.
On Tuesday, union officials said only 37 employees remained at the plant at 10th Street and Marr Road while others retired, accepted jobs at Baldor facilities in other states or joined the growing ranks of unemployed.
Fort Smith, Ark.-based Baldor purchased the former Rockwell Automation Reliance Electric Co. in 2006. At that time, it employed 195.
Some of the workers had been part of the company since its days as Reliance Electric at the Seventh Street facility near downtown.
Dave Hamilton, president of Local 1270 of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, said Baldor employees were paid good money.
The average wage was more than $18 an hour for workers who averaged about 20 years with the company. Finding similar pay or any job will be difficult, he said.
"There's no jobs out there," Hamilton said as he stood outside the plant Tuesday afternoon.
Two months warning
Baldor announced in April that it planned to consolidate operations at some of its U.S. facilities, and 122 jobs would be eliminated in Columbus.
Tracy Long, Baldor vice president of investor relations, said the change was part of the company's strategy to streamline operations since some product lines were made at more than one location.
A notification was filed with the Indiana Department of Workforce Development that it planned to permanently move "a substantial amount of work" from Columbus to other facilities.
The April 30 notice stated that the company employed 172 and it would cut 40 of 54 salaried employees and 82 of 118 hourly workers on June 30.
Long said Tuesday that she did not have exact numbers of employee reductions but that Baldor was "right on track" with what it announced in April.
Company officials said they are looking for a buyer for the Columbus plant, and if one is found, some workers could be recalled.
According to Baldor's Web site, the company designs, manufactures and markets industrial electric motors, mechanical power transmission products, drives and generators.
The company has 28 plants in the U.S., Canada, England, Mexico and China.
Long said the Columbus plant still has a manufacturing line that makes gear boxes.
The company reported in April that its first-quarter sales of $402.5 million were down 14 percent from a year earlier and net earnings were down 42 percent.