BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (AP) -- General Electric says it has canceled plans to close a southern Indiana plant although about a quarter of its 720 employees will be laid off this fall.
Plant manager Kent Suiters says that a reevaluation led the company to reverse a decision announced last year to close the Bloomington refrigerator factory. One reason is government incentives the company receives for making energy-efficient appliances at the plant that could be extended until 2013.
But Suiters says 190 jobs will be cut because demand for its refrigerators is down 27 percent this year.
Plant worker Patrice Shafford tells The Herald-Times that many people think the company's move is aimed at not providing benefits promised with the closing package.
She thinks the plant where 3,400 people once worked will be dwindled to nothing.
