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The company in Quincy, Ill., said Monday that it would close its Thomas Products division in Sheboygan by March 31.
The decision comes less than two weeks after Kohler Co. said it would eliminate 455 employees in Sheboygan County because of the drop in home construction and the decline in consumer spending. Those job cuts were in addition to the 188 that Kohler announced in January.
Sheboygan's unemployment rate was 12.2% in February, up from 5.5% a year earlier. The state average is 8.8%.
"There just aren't any jobs out there," said Diana Schmidt, president of Local 1060 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, which represents Thomas Products workers in Sheboygan. "I don't know what people are going to do."
Thomas Products, which makes vacuum pumps and air compressors, and its predecessor companies have had operations in Sheboygan for more than 70 years. The company has two plants in Sheboygan.
States compete
Gardner Denver planned to consolidate its operations in Sheboygan or Monroe, where it employs 76 people.
The plan set off a competition between Wisconsin and Louisiana to offer the richer package of incentives to win the jobs.
Tony Hozeny, a spokesman for the Wisconsin Department of Commerce, said the department doesn't release information on incentive packages that are not accepted.
"We put what we believe is a very competitive package on the table," Hozeny said.
Bob Ryan, who is to become mayor of Sheboygan next week, said the state, the city and Lakeshore Technical College offered the company a package worth more than $2.5 million.
Schmidt said the union also offered wage and benefit concessions.
She estimated the average wage for workers at the plants was $19 an hour, or about $39,500 a year.
"We've tried to give them whatever they want," she said of the company. "It just wasn't enough."
Gardner Denver said Louisiana would reimburse the company for most of the cost of moving equipment and staff to Monroe, provide yearly payroll and sales tax rebates and help the company with recruiting and training.
The City of Monroe also plans to help with the construction of a 124,000-square-foot factory adjoining the company's plant.
No numbers
Helen Cornell, executive vice president and chief financial officer of Gardner Denver, declined to disclose the maximum amount the company could receive from the package.
"I'd rather not put a number out there," she said.
She declined to disclose the estimated cost of moving the company's operations to Louisiana.
Gardner Denver bought Thomas Industries in 2005.
The company reported net income of $166 million on revenue of $2 billion last year. That compared with net income of $205.1 million on revenue of $1.9 billion in 2007.
Some employees have worked at Thomas Products more than 30 years.
"This is the only life they have known," Schmidt said. "It's devastating."
TRYING TO KEEP JOBS
Wisconsin, the City of Sheboygan and Lakeshore Technical College offered Gardner Denver a $2.5 million package.
The local union also offered concessions on pay and benefits.
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