Union leader calls out Doosan Bobcat for plan to send almost 400 jobs to Mexico; company denies claim

FARGO, N.D. (Valley News Live) - Union leaders at Doosan Bobcat tell Valley News Live they’ve been told hundreds of jobs are being outsourced. On Friday, September 15, Valley News Live received a whistleblower tip that Doosan Bobcat of Gwinner planned to send approximately 400 jobs to Mexico.

We reached out to Bobcat and the United Steel Worker Local Union 560 President, Cody Parrow for comment. At the time, Parrow said the Union was not ready to do an interview, but he told a Valley News Live reporter, “They informed us their long-term plan is to move that line by 2025. So, they’re not moving jobs to Mexico (at this time), but their long term plan is to do so.”

He later added, “Families around here that rely on this work here, you know they raise their families here and it’s their livelihood right? So I mean, it would be detrimental to the community, to the town of Gwinner, and we don’t want to see that happen. We want to see all jobs stay right here, right here, where they belong.”

Parrow says the union has a good relationship with Bobcat and he hopes they can find a way to “guarantee no job loss.”

Public Relations Manager for Doosan Bobcat, Nadine Erckenbrack tells Valley News Live in a statement:

As a global company that builds and sells products around the world, we are exploring opportunities to address current workforce challenges and facility constraints and identify ways to support market demand and growth. We are committed to creating and maintaining quality employment opportunities and our recent investments in our facilities throughout our global footprint are proof of that commitment. In fact, we recently announced a number of new facilities and expansions of existing manufacturing operations worldwide.

Our goal is to meet growing customer demand and there are no current plans to lower staffing levels at our facilities. In fact, we have grown the number of employees within the majority of our locations and continue to have open positions to fill.

At this time, we do not have any updates to share; we will share additional information if available.

Despite Bobcat denying the claims, the Union still says jobs will be leaving Gwinner and they worry that in turn this will hurt the local economy and businesses.

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