HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Eaton Corp. says it is cutting 30 percent of its jobs at the Hutchinson plant, affecting 42 workers.
The company announced the job cuts this week to workers at the plant that makes gears and piston pump parts for agricultural and construction equipment. Kelly Jasko spokesperson for Eaton attributed the layoff to an anticipated second year of down markets, with no significant turnaround predicted for the future. The company says it is offering “voluntary separation” incentives involving a lump-sum payment. Workers interested in that option, have until tomorrow to accept.
Eaton nearly closed in 2006 when the company announced that it was shutting down the Hutchinson facility and three others, and sending the work to Mexico. The City, County, Chamber and Sate all chipped in and relieved Eaton of 700,000 sq feet of unusable space.
Nearly a year later, Hutchinson officials decided to market the extra space, rather than tear it down. Some of the $1.5 million pledged by the city and county were used to buy 286,000 square feet of space from Eaton. That area was transferred to Sunflower Wind, a wind turbine manufacturer, for about $300,000. Sunflower Wind still owns the space but it’s being used to store wheat. The rest of the unused facility was either idled or razed.
Eaton used the money to retool and train its workforce. The state also contributed $2 million that was repaid by Eaton through state withholding tax to its employees.
Still with the incentives, the Hutchinson plant lost 150 jobs and in 2009 employed just 123 workers and 42 salaried employees.
The largest workforce since then has been around 190 employees which was back in 2011. At the present the plant employs about 140 workers.