Last month, Conn-Selmer – a manufacturer that’s said to be the last to produce brass musical instruments in the United States – announced that it would be closing its plant in Eastlake, Ohio.
And while it’s not exactly an unfamiliar story, this situation has a bit of an interesting twist: the production is reportedly going to a Conn-Selmer plant in China, and the company’s owner, John Paulson, has been an outspoken critic of offshoring.
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On the line are 150 union jobs and Conn-Selmer workers, members of UAW Local 2359, are predicted to lose their positions at the end of June. According to the union, they’d planned to bargain a new contract last month when, instead, they were told the plant would close. Leaders called it “a slap in the face.”
A recent report by the BBC cited union workers who claimed Conn-Selmer has had a plan in the works for a while. They said the company opened a new facility in China last year and the Ohio plant’s workload gradually began to shift overseas – even though workers were allegedly told that the China plant would not have an impact on the U.S. factory’s workload.
According to Robert Hines, president of UAW Local 2359 and an employee at the plant, “Almost immediately, they started taking parts from certain product lines.”
The company called the decision “tentative” but said that, if the move is finalized, “the plant’s closure “will improve [Conn-Selmer’s] competitiveness and better meet today’s market demands.”
The offshoring represents a significant pivot for owner John Paulson, who sharply criticized the offshoring of manufacturing in a 2024 interview with CNBC.
“We can’t have American producers closing American factories and offshoring,” Paulson said at the time. “We need to protect American jobs and protect American manufacturing.”
While local union leaders hope to fight the decision, holding rallies in support of the plant and its workers, it appears to be an uphill battle.
Said union leader Hines, “We’ve had people come out [and] show love to try to keep the place open, and the company just isn’t open to it. They’re not answering or returning anyone’s calls.”
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