Energizer to Lay Off Workers at WI Plant

St. Louis, MO-based battery maker Energizer Holdings is closing its manufacturing plant next year in Fennimore, WI, which will result in 172 worker layoffs, the company said in a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act letter Monday.

The first wave of layoffs is expected to begin on December 1, 2023, with additional layoffs occurring in the subsequent months until the plant ceases all operations in September 2024.

Teamsters Local 695, which represents workers at the Fennimore plant, negotiated with Energizer for an economic package to guarantee protections for 600 workers affected by the closures, according to the union’s announcement.

“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,” the Energizer spokesperson said.

In May, Energizer Holdings stated it would invest $43 million upgrading equipment and hiring more workers at its battery production and packaging facilities in Asheboro, NC. The company also said the expansion will add 178 operators, supervisors, maintenance personnel, and engineering jobs to the plant over the next five years.

This is just one of two plants the company stated in August that it plans to close in Wisconsin. The International Brotherhood of Teamsters announced in January that the alkaline battery maker is closing two plants in Wisconsin — Fennimore and Portage.

The Teamsters then said in March that workers at both facilities were told Energizer planned to offshore manufacturing jobs to Singapore and a non-union plant in North Carolina.