Fleetwood cutting 170 jobs at Decatur RV plant

Is that 450 at the production plant or is it scattered out among all the plants 44,91,90,52 and goldshield?

That # is total across town. It's roughly 1/4 the amount of associates Fleetwood had in 2004.

You watch, Fleetwood will shut the plant down soon if they don't find a buyer...with sole blame on the economy. None on the incompetent management...who have run the company into the ground...WELL before the economic downturn started.

It seems Fleetwood is all washed up just like Monaco but our demise happened not just because of the economy but also because of bad management. The first bad move was when Glen Kummer and Nelson Potter ganged up with the board of directors and forced our founder John Crean out. Second bad move was bringing in Ed Caudill and his group of cronies. Third was when the board dusted off Elden Smith and brought him back from retirement.
This was our three strikes your out move.
During one conference call one of our stockholders was almost begging Elden to cut more so as to conserve cash because of what the economy was looking like. Eldens response was we have cut all we can without having to exit any markets. Well since then that has been all we have done sell off all our property and exit markets without conserving any cash so it looks like the investors new more about our business than our officers did. I don't place all the blame on Elden because he was not completely at fault because of all the bad information he was provided by his officers they could talk him into anything even if it wasn't in the best interest of the company. Same good old boy policies let me get mine and play the big man and to heck with all the hard working associates who have helped build this once great company. Very sad for a company who once was the most respected company in the industry. The day we lost John Crean was the day we really lost our company we just didn't know it yet. I know John is no longer with us but I still wanted to say thank you John for the life you helped provide my family and me.

Good luck to you all...We're ALL watching out here !

So do the employees get a free rv as part of the severance package?

They could do that and still have lots full of unsold units.

Free RV wrote:

So do the employees get a free rv as part of the severance package?

They made burgers for us......

Did they make them or have a catering service do it? We always had catering services during the "cookouts" at Plant 44.

Management made them..Our weld shop made grills out of 55 gallon drums. Those burgers and the WARN money was the severance package...Office people fared much better.

We had a saying at the Pax. plant "Do what you did and get what you got " And this is what Fleetwood got for what they did....and it all started with Elden Smith back in 2006 when he took over...As I and my co-workers sat in a meeting and watched him tell us about changes in our benefits especially our medical plan, how we the associates will pay for a plan that only benefited the company. We never really ever had a great plan but The Principal Ins.was probably the best in my 25 yrs at Fleetwood. We the associates at fleetwood worked our tails off, long hours, no pay raise in 3 yrs cuts in benefits,were lied to constantly, we were told were # 1 in quality and safety, in the top 3 in customer satisfaction, they build us a new plant and then close it to send our work to a run down plant in Indiana. Hold you heads up high Fleetwood associates while the owners and management hide theirs cause they're getting what they got for what they did !!!!!

The plants in Decatur really aren't that run down. Ever been in any of them? We were told Pax's units were coming to Decatur b/c we had the capacity to build them, as well as service them (since the main service center is in Decatur too). As it turns out, there's about 100 bare truck chassis that have been sitting outside Plant 52 for months now...and haven't moved.

BTW, I remember that video of Elden breaking down the change in coverage. Thankfully I have never had insurance from Fleetwood from all of my years of service there, since my wife's coverage is top notch. But I felt horrible for those that did.

I remember getting an insurance pack in the mail last year that had a "wheel" in it...where you match your coverage..and the options you want...and it would then tell you how much per week it would cost. The best of the best that they offered cost well over $100/wk for family coverage (not including HSA contributions). My wife pays ½ of that for twice the coverage. No joke.

Was to Decatur back when old #52 was still running...Nice place and good people.

A lot of bitterness at Pax...The plant closing was not only a surprise, but in our area there is NO work..Idle plants all over.We all thought they'd close #47 before us because of our "State of the Art" paint facility, plus they paid us less than they do at the other plants ....Surprise!

At this point, we're just sitting back and laughing, not at the poor folks who have been furloughed, but at the corporate fiasco which we think was inevitable whether this economy tanked or not..Face it...This ship is going down!

Did they bring Matt P back to Decator as GM (Fleetwooder in Pax, is that you J O

Yes, Matt is the only one who left that plant with a job...I always liked Matt P. although some thought that he was sent to Pax.to act as the "Grim Reaper", and ultimately close the plant.This perception preceeded the shutdown.

Fleetwood builds too much cheap junk for my sympathy.

Who doesn't?...Because of the lack of good jobs in our area, we had the benefit of recruiting some of the better workers...However, you can only do so much with twisted pine and cheap paneling, and managers with engineering degrees that can't read a print....

Fleetwooder in Pax wrote:

Who doesn't?...Because of the lack of good jobs in our area, we had the benefit of recruiting some of the better workers...However, you can only do so much with twisted pine and cheap paneling, and managers with engineering degrees that can't read a print....

A good friend of mine spent 60k on a fleetwood fifth wheel trailer 2 years ago, its been back to the shop for major tear-down and interior repairs three times now due to leaking slide outs. Oh well, I find it reassuring to know that you guys acknowledge the problem, so thanks.

Ok I have heard and read so much about the bad products we build and about how bad our management is but I think that this is a bunch of bull. Fleetwood has always taken great pride in it's products and people. I go to every rv show around to compare our products to our competition and we by far make a superior product both in the defunct travel trailer and still current motor home products. Fleetwood may have made some bad decisions but our management team is in my opinion better than any in the industry. I work in the parts department and have had my share of problems but I can say with confidence that our managers are the hardest working managers in the industry and are trying their best to do everything possible to help our company survive. Come on everybody quit crying we are all sorry and feel terrible for all of our fellow associates who have lost their jobs but our economy has forced our hand not just Fleetwood but also Monaco and County Coach to name a few so lets lighten up on the bad products and bad management garbage we need to gather together and survive.

decatur associate plt 91 wrote:

Ok I have heard and read so much about the bad products we build and about how bad our management is but I think that this is a bunch of bull. Fleetwood has always taken great pride in it's products and people. I go to every rv show around to compare our products to our competition and we by far make a superior product both in the defunct travel trailer and still current motor home products. Fleetwood may have made some bad decisions but our management team is in my opinion better than any in the industry. I work in the parts department and have had my share of problems but I can say with confidence that our managers are the hardest working managers in the industry and are trying their best to do everything possible to help our company survive. Come on everybody quit crying we are all sorry and feel terrible for all of our fellow associates who have lost their jobs but our economy has forced our hand not just Fleetwood but also Monaco and County Coach to name a few so lets lighten up on the bad products and bad management garbage we need to gather together and survive.

I agree with most of your post, but ive been to tons of rv shows as well and all rvs from all brands are the exact same construction, excluding some upper models with aluminum frames and real plywood. I just hope fleetwood will fare through this okay, rving is a great activity.

Fleetwooder in Pax wrote:

Who doesn't?...Because of the lack of good jobs in our area, we had the benefit of recruiting some of the better workers...However, you can only do so much with twisted pine and cheap paneling, and managers with engineering degrees that can't read a print....

The managers in Pax had engineering degrees?!?! That's a MAJOR step up from Plant 44 and 52 here in Decatur. It's the "good 'ol boy" system around here.

I can't begin to count the amount of times we had MAJOR issues with quality in our welding department. I'm talking rusted out steel we were forced to work with, bent/twisted steel well outside of tolerances, welding without gas, etc. Yet a group leader, and a manager...neither of which have ever welded in their lives...instantly claim that the material and welds were perfectly fine.

It was like.....if you wore a radio...you were instantly smarter than anyone below you. Quality problems...at 1pm on a Friday?!?! None existent. Cover it up and go home. Rust holes from a chassis sitting outside for 2 years? Spray paint it black and run it down the line.

Hillbilly drunks ran/run the show at #44 and #52. If you're friends with them long enough...you too can be a manager!