At the beginning of August of 2017, Whirlpool announced they were hiring at least 500 people that month for their plant in Middle Amana. The reason was demand for their refrigerators. Just 17 months later, the company is reversing course and has announced layoffs at the same plant.

According to the Herald Palladium, Whirlpool announced a fourth-quarter loss of $268 million last week, much of it due to a tax charge. Since that time, Whirlpool stock has increased from $178.97 to $182.05 (as of 10:23 a.m. central 2/1)

Whirlpool's layoffs are affecting workers around the nation. Kris Sherman, spokesperson for the Whirlpool Corporation, didn't say how many people would lose their job in a statement from the company, posted by KCRG:

In October last year, we committed to reducing global fixed costs by $150M to better position our company for future growth and profitability. We are doing this through a number of actions that touch all of our regions globally.

When considering job reductions, we worked hard to be thoughtful in our approach. The majority of the job reductions were achieved through voluntary retirements, attrition of open roles, and job changes. In some cases, we made difficult decisions for involuntary separation.

These reductions are unfortunate but necessary in helping to achieve our business goals. We plan to continue investing in our brands, products, and people, especially related to manufacturing jobs, which are critical to our ongoing success as the global leader in the home appliance industry."

In late October of last year, Sears announced that after more than a century, they would no longer be selling Whirlpool, Maytag, KitchenAid, and Jenn-Air products... all are divisions of Whirlpool. Three of the brands (Whirlpool, Jenn-Air, and KitchenAid) are made at the Middle Amana plant.

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