Workers and union leaders are calling for a boycott of Energizer – the battery maker famous for its “Energizer bunny” adverts – over its plans to shut down plants in Wisconsin and move jobs offshore to Singapore, the UK, and a non-union plant in North Carolina.
Using the hashtag #BadBunny the Teamsters union called this week for a protest boycott. “The name of their company is a joke. The only thing they are ‘energizing’ is another economy in another country,” said Teamsters general president Sean O’Brien.
Easter is coming. One #BadBunny may not be celebrating… #ExposeEnergizer #BoycottTheBunny pic.twitter.com/MMRyRCafEm
— Teamsters (@Teamsters) April 5, 2023
In December 2022, Chris Udelhoven, who has worked at Energizer’s Fennimore, Wisconsin plant for 43 years in various positions, said workers were informed via a short paragraph that Energizer planned to shut down the plant and another in Portage, Wisconsin over the next 18 to 24 months, a move that would eliminate around 600 jobs.
“Everyone was in total shock,” said Udelhoven. “Our workers come from all the surrounding counties. Many people have other family members who work here. It’s a big hit.”
She said her sister also works at the plant, with the job losses impacting surrounding businesses in the town of Fennimore, which has a population of just under 3,000 people, hitting friends and families hard.
“They need to stay here in Wisconsin, we don’t want them leaving here, we want the jobs to stay here where they are. I don’t know where all these people are going to find jobs,” added Udelhoven. “We are continuing to fight to keep these plants open, getting the communities involved into that fight with us, contacting government officials, anybody they can to help keep these facilities open.”
Rob Krantz, who owns and operates Krantz Auto Parts in Fennimore, Wisconsin and used to work at the plant under RayoVac before Energizer acquired the company in 2018, pulled all Energizer products from his store in protest after the plant shutdown announcement.
“We’re a small rural community that is going to lose over 300 jobs,” said Krantz. “This will be devastating to every business in our town, including mine. All I see here by the move is more corporate greed.”
Offshoring has been a contentious political issue as manufacturing in the US has experienced steep job losses in recent decades, decimating communities throughout the midwest. After an initial decline at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, there are currently just under 13m manufacturing jobs in the US, a slight increase from pre-pandemic numbers.
The safety net for workers impacted by offshoring, the Trade Adjustment Assistance program, lapsed due to a lack of funding by Congress in July 2022. The scheme covered 107,454 workers impacted by offshoring in 2021.
“This is corporate greed at its worst,” said Teamsters eastern region vice-president Rocco Calo. “We look at what’s happened with supply chains, with goods being transported, the problems that we have, it makes no sense to me that we’re going to bring jobs offshore, and then transport the goods back into this country. I don’t think it’s a really smart business move.”
The Teamsters have criticized Energizer’s decision given the $10m in public subsidies the company has received since 1999 in six states and ongoing federal contracts Energizer has with the US military and Department of Veterans Affairs.
The union pointed to Energizer’s solid financial performance. The company reported a gross profit of $1.1bn in 2022 and paid out $93m to shareholders through dividends in 2022. In August 2021, Energizer entered an agreement to spend $75m on stock buybacks. Energizer CEO Mark LaVigne received an increase in total compensation from $6m in 2021 to over $9m in 2022.
The Teamsters have negotiated with Energizer on economic protections for workers impacted by the shutdowns, including extended health coverage, severance, and set schedules to retain workers through 2024.
“We made it very clear to Energizer it was our goal to keep these plants open,” said Bryan Rademacher, President of Local 695. “We’re going to do everything we can in hopes we can do that.”
Senator Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin criticized Energizer’s plans to close the plants in the state in a recent Senate help committee meeting, noting that the closures came just after Energizer had requested government funds for research and development. She has also requested the Federal Trade Commission to scrutinize Energizer’s acquisition of Rayovac in 2018 over the plant closures.
“I’m disturbed by a trend that I’m seeing,” said Baldwin. “It seems to me that when seeking support from the government, these billion dollar corporations talk up their American facilities and workers, all the while, some of these corporations, like Energizer, are making plans to move a union facility to a non-union state or foreign country.”
A spokesperson for Energizer said: “Last week, we entered into an agreement with the union which provides for a package that includes severance, health insurance coverage and job placement assistance. As we’ve said from day one, our colleagues are our main concern, and we will continue focusing on them. We are pleased that negotiations with the union have concluded so our colleagues can have the clarity they expect and deserve.”
