Winchester Moves To Mississippi
11/8/2010
The shooting industry is moving south. Remington left New York for North Carolina, Para USA moved from Canada, USRAC shut down completely, then moved to FN’s factory, and now Olin’s Winchester ammunition factory is relocating from Illinois to Mississippi.
According to the "Belleville News Democrat," Olin pulled the trigger on moving the Winchester factory after union workers twice rejected a contract offer in as many weeks.
Olin said approximately 1,000 jobs will be relocated to a new 500,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art plant to be built in Oxford, Miss. The move is expected to take several years.
This decision follows two failed ratification votes by members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers District 9.
The "News Democrat" reported that Andy Lucker, who has worked at the East Alton plant nearly two years, said the contract that he and other union workers were presented with was the same one that they voted down two weeks ago. He said the concessions included eliminating HMOs, getting rid of a fifth week of paid vacation, a seven-year wage freeze and a reclassification of some jobs.
Olin President and Chief Executive Officer Joseph Rupp said, "Unfortunately, without the cost savings and efficiencies that the [union] would have provided, the state incentives alone would not have allowed us to remain competitive for the long-term at our current location in Illinois."
Rupp added that Mississippi has offered "significant" incentives to build the plant there.
In 2004, Olin moved its Rimfire Division and 150 jobs to Mississippi.
