Layoffs are expected to begin April 22 as 3M starts shutting down abrasives manufacturing at its East Side plant. Overall, at least 250 production jobs and an additional 50 maintenance jobs will be eliminated by the end of the year, said Dennis Ramberg, secretary-treasurer of PACE Local 7-75, which represents the production workers.

Only about 90 production workers and an estimated 300 maintenance workers will remain at the plant, which once employed 2,800 people, said Paul Lindgren, an international representative for PACE. 3M is moving the abrasives line to Brazil, he said, and phasing out the plant's primary tape line.

Production workers typically earn $19-$20 an hour, Ramberg said; the craft maintenance workers - including millwrights, electricians and pipefitters - are in the range of $23-$24 an hour.

Severance a double-edge sword
Ramberg and Lindgren said a separation package for the workers is likely to include severance pay of a week and a half of pay for each year of service, a pension bridge for workers at least 55 years old by the end of the year, and retraining through the state's Dislocated Workers Program.

'For workers over 55, it's a pretty good deal,' Ramberg said. 'Anybody under 55 is getting raked over the coals.'

Lindgren said middle-age workers at the plant who aren't old enough to take early retirement yet lose their jobs are really caught in a squeeze. 'With this kind of negotiations,' he said, 'it's basically collective begging. We've got some really angry people here, people who have given a lot of years to this company.'

Ramberg said 133 of the production workers will be 55 or older; 102 are between ages 50 and 54; 85 are between 40 and 49; and only 39 are younger than 40. 'Morale is terrible,' he said. 'It's rough when you're 50 years old and have to change jobs. You know nobody wants you.'

The job cuts at the East Side plant are part of a larger downsizing being taken by CEO James McNerney, who joined the company last year from General Electric. 3M eliminated 6,000 jobs company-wide last year, and expects to eliminate 2,500 more this year.

Lindgren said 3M will continue to produce specialty tapes at the East Side plant. Word in the company is that it will move in more research and development work or filters manufacturing from elsewhere in the metro area, he said, which sets up a fight over whether the new jobs will be union.

This article was written for The Union Advocate newspaper, the official publication of the St. Paul Trades and Labor Assembly. Used by permission. E-mail The Advocate at: advocate@mtn.org