LITTLE ROCK — More than 300 workers will lose their jobs before Christmas when the GDX Automotive facility in Batesville closes its doors.
The shutdown is pending the completion of the sale of GDX International Holdings to MAPS Holdings Inc. The plant is expected to close in late November, according to a news release.
The last day of operation for the plant, which manufactures sealing products, will be Nov. 26, said Jonah Shumate, president and chief executive officer of the Batesville Area Chamber of Commerce.
"They employ over 300 people, so it's going to be a prettysignificant economic blow to not only Batesville and Independence County, but the three or four counties around here," he said, adding that workers commute from surrounding areas.
The company has a $20 million-plus payroll, he said. With about 200 layoffs earlier this year at the White-Rodgers plant,which makes die castings, coils, rubber products and machined components, Shumate said the area is facing a challenge.
The sale to MAPS Holdings does not include several GDX properties, including Batesville.
A Wabash, Ind., plant will close within 14 days of Nov. 30, according to The Associated Press, letting more than 600 workers go. Job cuts will start on Nov. 9.
A news release by the United Steelworkers Canada/Syndicat de Metallos said GDX's Magog, Quebec, facility will put 350 members out of work. Part of the problem includes General Motors Corp. not renewing a contract that represented twothirds of the plant's production, according to the release.
Subsidiaries in France and Spain were also not included in the sale.
"We sincerely regret that facilities not included in the sale will be wound down," Timothy Nelson, chief operating officer of GDX North America Inc., said in a written statement. "GDX has been severely impacted by dire and unpredictable business circumstances that have led to theunfortunate need to close these facilities."
The Farmington Hills, Mich.-based company declined to discuss why Batesville, Magog and Wabash weren't included in the sale and are being shut down. Management also declined to give exact closing dates, saying the closings were pending negotiations with customers to end service.
A spokesman for MAPS Holdings did not return messages.
Shumate said the chamber and the Arkansas Economic Development Commission metwith GDX to discuss possible incentives. "We've been real proactive," he said. "We basically pulled out all the stops."
However, he thinks their message didn't make it to the top of the chain for consideration during the sale.
Now the community will focus on bringing in new manufacturing, he said. Joe Holmes, spokesman for the Arkansas Economic Development Commission, said the commission will be looking to match the facility with potential employers.
"We'll be marketing Batesville, as we do the entire state," Holmes said.
Independence County's unemployment rate is 6.1 percent, according to the Department of Workforce Services. Arkansas' unemployment rate is 5.7 percent, 1 percent higher than the national rate. Batesville's population was about 9,500, according to the 2006 estimate by the U.S. Census Bureau.
MAPS Holdings will acquire GDX's facilities in Farmington Hills, Mich.; New Haven, Mo.; Welland, Ontario; Guadalajara, Mexico; Grefrath and Rehburg, Germany; the Czech Republic; and GDX's joint-venture operations in China. GDX is owned by investment firm Cerberus Capital Management L.P.
Front Section, Pages 1, 2 on 10/23/2007