Worker

They may lose their jobs, so hundreds of local workers found a way to show how upset they are through a public protest. Employees at Cequent Performance Products in Goshen put "for sale" signs in car windows in the company parking lot. Cequent told its 450 workers it plans to close and move the work to Mexico. A final decision is expected in next month. The union says it will meet with the company next week.

PLYMOUTH - It's been a week since 110 workers lost their jobs due to a plant closing in Marshall County. And now some of them are trying to get back to work. Whitley Products in Plymouth closed last Wednesday after 35 years, saying they didn't have the money to stay in business. "It hurts," said Lorri Prater. "I can't get my unemployment. There's some problem, and I'm the only income. Prater worked at Whitley for 9 years, supervising and leading. "I did so much there," Prater said.

GOSHEN -- It's hard to vote against a sure thing. United Steelworkers Local 9550, which represents about 350 members at Cequent Performance Products, voted Friday evening to accept the closure agreement offered by the company. The vote was held at the Masonic Temple in Goshen. The company, which makes parts for the automotive industry, announced in November it would close all of its operations in Goshen and move the plant to Reynosa, Mexico . "The majority of the employees voted to take the package and not go to arbitration," Mike O'Brien, United Steelworkers Sub District 4 director for much of northern Indiana, said.

About 400 employees at AM General walked into work today only to learn that they won't have a job to come back to after Christmas - At least not for a while. AM General, maker of Humvees, is temporarily laying off workers at its military assembly plant on McKinley Avenue. A company spokesman today and he stressed that the layoff is temporary. It'll go into effect January 1 and is expected to last until March of 2013. "Pretty much they told us that after the 21st of this month we'd be laid off until further notice," said worker Mark Akins.

DEMOTTE, Ind. (AP) — A northwestern Indiana highway worker has died after a co-worker backed a dump truck over him. Indiana State Police say 54-year-old Tony Northcutt of Rensselaer died Thursday on U.S. 231 in Jasper County. They say he was sealing cracks in the roadway when a dump truck driven by 50-year-old Micheal Hatch backed over him. Hatch told investigators he had looked into mirrors and did not see Northcutt behind him. Northcutt was pronounced dead at St. Anthony's Hospital in Crown Point.

LANSING, Mich. (AP) - Gov. Rick Snyder is getting ready to sign bills aimed at saving Michigan employers money on unemployment insurance and worker's compensation benefits. He plans to sign the bills at a 3:05 p.m. Monday news conference. The bills would further limit the ability of a person who was fired for cause or who may have left a job voluntarily from collecting jobless benefits. They would require some unemployed workers to take jobs after 10 weeks of benefits even if the jobs are outside the unemployed worker's previous experience or pay lower wages.

DETROIT (AP) — The death of a 67-year-old Detroit Burger King customer who police say fell and later died after being punched by a 20-year-old employee has been ruled a homicide. Wayne County medical examiner's office spokesman Dennis Niemiec says an autopsy conducted Friday determined that Paul Cannon died from blunt force trauma to the head. Niemiec says the man's dentures were "not an issue" in the death. An earlier report said the punch may have caused the older man to choke on his dentures.

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - Police say a highway worker was killed when an excavator backed into him while placing concrete barriers in an Interstate 465 construction zone on the northeast side of Indianapolis. State police Sgt. Ray Poole says the excavator pinned the construction worker between the vehicle and the concrete barriers and ran over him while crews were working Monday morning at I-465 and Allisonville Road. Poole says no highway traffic was involved in the accident.

CAPE MAY COURT HOUSE, N.J. (AP) - Authorities will take three days off a New Jersey inmate's sentence after he rescued an animal shelter worker from a pit bull attack. Justin Peggs was working off a 45-day sentence for assault at the Cape May County Animal Shelter and Adoption Center in Middle Township when the dog sank its teeth into Kathleen James' thigh. James told The Press of Atlantic City ( http://bit.ly/nWEeCB ) the 22-year-old inmate heard her cries and jumped on the dog, holding it down until the staff could subdue it. James needed stitches and the dog was euthanized.

SAND LAKE, Mich. (AP) — Authorities say a carnival worker has died while taking down a 60-foot-high ride in southwestern Michigan following a Independence Day weekend festival. WOOD-TV and The Grand Rapids Press report the man died early Tuesday and police believe he was electrocuted while dismantling the ride in Sand Lake. The roller coaster-style ride, called the Fireball, sends passengers upside down on a circular track. McDonagh Amusements owner Tom McDonagh says the man, who was from Jackson, died after touching power line.