Tom Harkin: “Tomorrow with the closing of the Maytag manufacturing plant in Newton, IA, a beloved Iowa institution and an icon in the…”

“Tomorrow with the closing of the Maytag manufacturing plant in Newton, IA, a beloved Iowa institution and an icon in the history of industrial America will be gone forever. The Maytag brand, synonymous with product quality and reliability, will still be attached to rebranded Whirlpool Corporation appliances, but do not be fooled, those products will no longer be made by loyal, skilled, experienced, Iowa workers. They will be made elsewhere. This is a heartbreaking loss to the Newton community, Newton, IA, and a loss felt by people across my State of Iowa. Maytag was founded in Newton by Fredrick Louis Maytag, in 1893, as a manufacturer of farm equipment. Fourteen years later, the company introduced its first washing machine, which it produced during seasonal downturns in the farm implement business. Newton soon became known as the washing machine capital of the world. By the time it was acquired by Whirlpool in 2006, Maytag Corporation was a $4.7 billion company with 18,000 employees worldwide. But the center of its operations, the heart of its operations, was Newton, IA, with 2,800 employees. Now, it is all gone. Thousands of good-paying jobs and the economic foundation of an entire community.”