CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (WDEF) — Yanfeng International released a WARN notice on the 29th announcing they were permanently laying off 155 workers at their Chattanooga Plant on Bonnyshire Drive, likely meaning the closure of the plant entirely.
Economists say this is a symptom of a broader shrinkage across industries.
Dr. Howard Wall, Director of the Center for Regional Economic Research at UTC tells us, “Our prospects over the recent past has been downgraded. We really haven’t been growing as we thought, we’ve been kind of been slowly shrinking our employment for about a year and a half, and I think it’s part of that and a big chunk of it is because the auto industry itself has not done well for the last two years.”
This is the third WARN notice that has been issued in our area, and the second automotive adjacent plant to announce its closure. Overall, more than 500 jobs will be permanently laid off effective in the month of June.
Dr. Wall continues, “I think it’s really just part of the general slowdown in the economy I mean you can’t blame individual companies coming and going except Volkswagen itself that’s it, but you know it’s really just part and parcel of what it’s like to be a heavy manufacturing economy, and unfortunately, the thing to do is to wait it out and hope that the economy does better overall.
We spoke with Democratic State Representative Yusuf Hakeem from Hamilton County. He says that United States Actions overseas are at least partially to blame. “I would hope that once this war ends that we can regroup and find the willpower – I believe it’s there – when I look at Volkswagen when I look at the unions, I believe there’s a will to move forward and I think it’s something we have to bear at this time, but we can and will rebound from this.”
Volkswagen itself recently announced it will cease manufacture of the iD4 electric vehicle at its Chattanooga plant. The union contract with UAW guarantees the Chattanooga plant will stay open until the end of that contract.
