Battery maker Energizer Holdings is closing its Portage, Wisconsin, manufacturing plant this year and laying off 135 workers in the process, the company said in a Jan. 5 Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act notice.
The first round of layoffs will begin March 5, with more to come throughout the year as operations wind down and cease in December 2024, according to the WARN Act letter.
The Portage site is the second Wisconsin plant the company is closing. Energizer is also shuttering its Fennimore, Wisconsin, plant in September, laying off 172 workers. The battery maker confirmed its plans to close both Wisconsin plants to Manufacturing Dive in October.
The equipment from both Wisconsin plants will be relocated to Energizer’s other manufacturing facilities in the U.S., an Energizer spokesperson told Manufacturing Dive in May. Energizer announced plans to spend $43 million to upgrade equipment and hire more workers at its battery production and packaging facilities in Asheboro, North Carolina.
Teamsters Local 695, which represents workers at the Portage and Fennimore plants, negotiated with Energizer in March for an economic package to guarantee protections for 600 workers affected by the Wisconsin closures, according to the union’s announcement.
As part of the closure announcement, Energizer entered into an agreement with the labor union to provide a package that includes severance, health insurance coverage and job placement assistance, an Energizer spokesperson told Manufacturing Dive in an email on Tuesday.
“As we’ve said from day one, we will continue to focus on our colleagues – the people closest to this issue and who matter most,” an Energizer spokesperson said.
