How can Whirpool, who moved jobs to Mexico, get a tax break?

July 21, 2010|Kirk Mason

Benton Harbor — Michigan is giving Benton Harbor- based Whirlpool tax credits for a building project that will keep the company in Berrien County.

Tina Barnett of Warsaw has a Good Question: "How can Whirpool, who moved jobs to Mexico, get a tax break?"

Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm came to Benton Harbor this week to celebrate and with news of a gift.

Whirlpool is keeping its corporate headquarters in Benton Harbor and building a new campus on Main Street.

For Michigan's part, the state is giving the company a more than $19 million tax credit over five years.

Whirlpool recently closed its refrigerator-making plant in southern Indiana. More than 1,000 Whirlpool manufacturing jobs have been lost in Indiana and moved to Mexico.

On a recent trip we made to South Bend's Work One office, it wasn't hard to find a now-unemployed worker who lost his job to cheaper foreign labor.

"I don't want unemployment, just bring the jobs back here to the states," said unemployed auto worker, Art McKinney.

"We know Whirlpool and other major corporations are moving employees," Granholm said.

But Granholm defended the tax help for Whirlpool in Michigan, to keep the company's corporate headquarters in Berrien County.

"But the point is there is a consolidation and a commitment to jobs that won't be outsourced," Granholm said. "And that's very important."

Important if you are one of the people who still has a job.

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