“We Put Our Pride, Sweat, Blood, and Tears Into This”: Rob Sand Meets with Workers Affected by Whirlpool Layoffs in Amana
Karla Waggener, a Whirlpool worker: “Our jobs need to stay here. It helps the small communities. It helps the big communities. Everybody. It helps the gas station.”
DES MOINES, IA – Yesterday, candidate for governor Rob Sand met with members of Machinists Local 1526, community leaders, and workers impacted by recent Whirlpool layoffs in Amana to hear directly about how the recent job cuts are affecting Iowa families and their communities. During the roundtable, workers shared how these layoffs don’t just impact the families losing paychecks — they ripple through the entire community, affecting local businesses, schools, and the future of Iowa’s small towns.
In February, Whirlpool announced it would cut 341 jobs from its Amana factory effective March 9 — nearly a quarter of the facility’s workforce. The layoffs follow 250 cuts in July 2025, and over the last five years the plant’s workforce has dropped from roughly 3,300 employees to fewer than 1,000. The cuts come despite Whirlpool receiving more than $12.5 million in Iowa taxpayer support, while investing $161 million in a new facility in Mexico and moving jobs out of the state.
Learn more about Rob’s roundtable in Amana below:
WATCH:
Iowa’s News Now: Roundtable discussion highlights concerns with recently announced Whirlpool layoffs
- During the discussion, Sand listened as workers described how much has changed. One employee, who has been with the company for decades, said it doesn’t feel the way it used to.
- Union leaders say over the last 20 years, Whirlpool has received at least $12.5 million in incentives in Iowa while investing more than $1 billion in facilities in Mexico.
- 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.
- “This is a real community right here in Iowa, that is being decimated by these decision,” Sand said. “Just so what? Somebody who doesn’t have a definition of the word enough can have more.”
KCRG: Whirlpool workers, union reps call on Iowa lawmakers to act ahead of March 9 layoffs
- Sandy Freytag, a Whirlpool employee in Amana, said she has worked at the plant since 1994 and has watched its workforce shrink from more than 3,000 employees to under 1,000 once the upcoming layoffs take effect.
- Whirlpool has said more layoffs could happen later in the year. The announcement coincides with the company recently completing a $161 million expansion in Mexico.
- “When they don’t hold up their end of the bargain and they slash jobs and they move jobs overseas, then we should have the ability to claw that money back. They should pay that money back to the taxpayers of the state,” Moyle said.
READ:
- Iowa should be able to recoup financial incentives awarded to companies that lay off workers in the state to move production elsewhere, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Rob Sand said Wednesday during a campaign event in Amana in discussing pending layoffs at Whirlpool with workers and union leaders.
- “I think it’s pretty simple. If you had a deal where you got tax dollars paid by Iowans because you said you were committing and reinvesting in a community, and then later on you change your mind and you leave and you go to Mexico, those tax dollars should stay here for Iowans,” Sand said. “Seems pretty simple.”
- “Our jobs need to stay here,” Karla Waggener, a Whirlpool worker from Cedar Rapids, said during the Wednesday roundtable. “It helps the small communities. It helps the big communities. Everybody. It helps the gas station.”
- “While you’re laying them off, it’s not just those people. It’s also the community,” Sand said. “You see this all across the state. If you lose your manufacturing facilities, you lose your employees, you lose people who are eating in restaurants, you lose people who are in town to, like you said, fill up at the gas station. …”