ICYMI: Iowans Face Layoffs, Higher Prices on Hinson’s Watch 

Despite Hinson’s Promises that Tariffs Would Bring Back U.S. Manufacturing Jobs, Iowa Sees Hundreds of Layoffs at Whirlpool’s Amana Factory

Hinson-Backed Tariffs Have Already Cost Iowa Families an Estimated $1,000 in 2025

DES MOINES –  Ashley Hinson has repeatedly promised that tariffs would help bring jobs back to Iowa. The truth is: the chaotic trade wars she supports are hurting Iowa workers and raising prices. This week, 350 Iowa factory workers at Whirlpool’s Amana were laid off, with their jobs potentially being shipped off to Mexico.

“Ashley Hinson promised Iowans that costly tariffs would bring back American manufacturing, but the hundreds of layoffs at Amana is proof it isn’t working,” said Iowa Democratic Party spokesperson Drew Myers. “Instead of protecting and creating new jobs, her support for chaotic tariffs is raising prices on working families and hurting farmers.”

Read What They’re Saying About the Layoffs:

CBS News: U.S. manufacturers are still shedding thousands of jobs, as workers ask White House for help

• “This is a story that needs to be told to the American public,” Brian Bryant, international president of the International Association of Machinists (IAM), the union that represents about 1,300 Whirlpool workers, told CBS News. “Everything’s not rosy in this country, and every day, workers’ jobs are still in jeopardy by corporations that favor profits over the workforce.“

• But some domestic companies are still finding it cheaper to shift jobs overseas.

• Whirlpool’s plant in Amana, whose population is less than 1,000 people, has itself felt the impact of that trend, union officials told CBS News. The factory now has about 1,300 workers, down from 3,000 employees in 2020, with jobs being shifted to a Whirlpool plant in Mexico, IAM’s Bryant said.

• “If you look at the last 20 years, they’ve invested over a billion dollars into beefing up their Mexico manufacturing, and their exports that are coming out of Mexico have exponentially increased,” he said. “This is not modernization — this is offshoring of jobs.”

• “These are employees that spend their money in these communities, they send their kids to the schools there,” he told CBS News. “At this time, they’re getting laid off, they’re losing their health insurance — on March 9, they lose it immediately.”

KGAN: Roundtable discussion highlights concerns with recently announced Whirlpool layoffs

• One employee, who has been with the company for decades, said it doesn’t feel the way it used to.

• “It used to be a nice place to go and you didn’t hate walking into your job,” Sandy said. “You’re sharing your life with people. You’re with them so long, I’m with some of those people more than I’m with my family.”

• Another employee described how entire departments have disappeared in recent years, mentioning cuts to third shift, Line 6 and soon Line 4.

• Workers also raised concerns about unemployment benefits being reduced in recent years and how the company’s “down weeks” can further reduce what they’re eligible to receive.

• But for many, the pain isn’t just financial, it’s personal.

• “My biggest issue is we all put our pride, our sweat, our blood and tears into this,” a Whirlpool worker said.

Des Moines Register: With Amana layoffs, union accuses Whirlpool of moving jobs to Mexico

• In a news release Wednesday, Feb. 18, the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers accused Whirlpool, which makes Whirlpool, Amana, Maytag and Kitchenaid refrigerators at the 1,500-worker plant, of displacing American workers in favor of operations in Mexico.

• “... Whirlpool has been aggressively expanding its manufacturing footprint in Mexico, recently completing a major refrigerator plant expansion in Ramos Arizpe, Coahuila, in 2024, investing $65 million into its Celaya, Guanajuato facility, and designating Mexico as the sole producer of its French Door refrigerator line, a product exported almost entirely back to American and Canadian consumers,” it said.

• The release also called for “every local elected official and every member of the Iowa Congressional Delegation to stand up for the working families of Amana and push back against this latest round of layoffs. Our members sent their representatives to fight for them, and this is that moment. Silence in the face of this corporate betrayal is not an option.”

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