At two o'clock Thursday afternoon, all 1100 employees of the Cleveland Whirlpool plant gathered in the company's parking lot.
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[1]Management delivered the news: the factory was expanding by nearly fifty percent.
"I think we are at liberty to say that 500 jobs from Oxford are moving to Cleveland," says Cleveland Mayor Tom Rowland.
It's been a rocky 12 months for Whirlpool workers.
Last July, the company announced that 110 Cleveland employees were laid off, their jobs out sourced to Mexico.
[1]But Whirlpools decision this week to close a plant in Oxford means 500 Mississippi jobs are coming to Tennessee.
All the workers laid off in Cleveland last year are rehired.
"I feel for the people in Oxford, but as I say it's another great day in Cleveland and Bradley County," says Bradley County Gary Davis.
"We don't like to see anyone lose a job but in corporate America there has to be a profit because they do have stock holders," says Rowland.
[1]While Cleveland gains 500 jobs, Oxford loses close to 750.
A Cleveland city official says the decision to shut down the Mississippi plant was a no-brainer for Whirlpool.
According to the source, Cleveland's profit margin was much better than Oxford's.
Whirlpool's executives in Cleveland are not commenting.
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