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More than 60 TRW employees got pink slips last week, and more are expected to be laid off soon, said
Ben Hovell, a United Auto Workers official and TRW employee. Hovell said workers at the plant — one of three TRW facilities in Winona that, combined, employ nearly 700 — have been getting increasingly nervous since the closure of TRW’s Rushford, Minn., plant in 2006.
“What’s really hard for the work force is this uncertainty,” Hovell said.
Lawmakers and others on hand Monday said the layoffs underscore the need to reform global trade deals like the North American Free Trade Agreement.
Some of the laid-off jobs in Winona were shifted to an existing TRW facility in Mexico, while others were eliminated altogether, TRW officials told Rep. Tim Walz, DFL-Minn. TRW leaders have declined interview requests from the Daily News, though they told Walz that the layoffs were a response to slumping domestic auto sales.
