Workers protest Energizer’s plans to close Wisconsin plants

theguardian.com:

Workers and union leaders are calling for a boycott of Energizer – the battery maker famous for its “Energizer bunny” adverts – over its plans to shut down plants in Wisconsin and move jobs offshore to Singapore, the UK, and a non-union plant in North Carolina.

Using the hashtag #BadBunny the Teamsters union called this week for a protest boycott. “The name of their company is a joke. The only thing they are ‘energizing’ is another economy in another country,” said Teamsters general president Sean O’Brien.

In December 2022, Chris Udelhoven, who has worked at Energizer’s Fennimore, Wisconsin plant for 43 years in various positions, said workers were informed via a short paragraph that Energizer planned to shut down the plant and another in Portage, Wisconsin over the next 18 to 24 months, a move that would eliminate around 600 jobs.

“Everyone was in total shock,” said Udelhoven. “Our workers come from all the surrounding counties. Many people have other family members who work here. It’s a big hit.”

She said her sister also works at the plant, with the job losses impacting surrounding businesses in the town of Fennimore, which has a population of just under 3,000 people, hitting friends and families hard.

“They need to stay here in Wisconsin, we don’t want them leaving here, we want the jobs to stay here where they are. I don’t know where all these people are going to find jobs,” added Udelhoven. “We are continuing to fight to keep these plants open, getting the communities involved into that fight with us, contacting government officials, anybody they can to help keep these