It's bad enough that 180 people will be out of a job when Diamond Products shuts its manufacturing plant in downtown St. Paul.

What makes it worse, some workers say, is that Mayor Randy Kelly seems more interested in the redevelopment potential of the site than he does in keeping good manufacturing jobs in the city.

On the same day Diamond made the closing public, Kelly appointed a task force to recommend future uses for the site ? the former Gillette plant at 310 E. 5th St., near the Farmers Market on the edge of Lowertown.

"That ticked off quite a few people down here," said Keith Cilley, a former president of USW Local 409 who is now on a committee trying to negotiate severance pay for workers. "All these good jobs are going away, and all the city does is look at it as an opportunity for urban redevelopment."

"I understand the mayor has no impact on the business decisions being made here, but it's disheartening to see that his immediate reaction was to see it as a great opportunity for other things," said John Wolf, who has worked at Diamond nearly 20 years.

"There's nothing he can do about it, but he could recognize what the workers here are going through," said Sheila Ortiz, a fork-truck driver with nearly 12 years at Diamond. "In my opinion, he's only concerned about what's going to be there next."

Shutdown begins Nov. 11
The plant manufactures White Rain products, including shampoos, conditioners and lotions. About all Diamond will say is that it is outsourcing the work, Cilley said.

Local 409 represents about 120 workers, who average more than $20 an hour, Cilley said. The 32 workers represented by Machinists Lodge 459 do even better, he said. Most workers have more than 25 years' experience at the plant.

Nov. 11 will be the last day for manufacturing workers, he said; warehouse workers will stay on as late as Dec. 2. The unions and company begin final bargaining on the shutdown Nov. 1.

The plant also manufactured Liquid Paper for Rubbermaid-Newell, before that company shifted production to Asia. The loss of that business, however, makes Diamond workers eligible for federal Trade Adjustment Assistance. TAA gives them extended unemployment benefits and up to two years of college classes. They're also eligible for retraining under the state's Dislocated Worker Program.

Health insurance a key that's missing
But TAA benefits won?t help everyone. "That's something I'd really like to take advantage of, but that's hard in my situation," said Wolf, who has a wife and two young daughters. "I won't be covered under a company health plan, and ? even if I qualify for maximum unemployment, that's really not enough to sustain a family while I?m going to school."

Ortiz, a single mother with a 15-year-old son, has similar concerns. "Two years of unemployment won't help if I don't have any health insurance," she said.

The shutdown surprises Ortiz because, after a bleak period last year that included layoffs, things at Diamond seemed to rebound. There was a lot of overtime from March through July, she said, and Diamond even hired a new plant manager. "It's a total shock that they're closing this soon."

But Wolf said he saw the writing on the wall, though it still doesn't make sense to him.

"People assume labor costs are such a driving thing. But in my head I've been breaking it down, the per unit cost. And compared with corporate overhead and raw materials, labor is such a small piece of it. Sometimes I think it's an easy way out."

Adapted from The Union Advocate, the official newspaper of the St. Paul Trades and Labor Assembly. E-mail The Advocate at: advocate@stpaulunions.org