Pressure on Walmart to halt outsourcing of its Light Bulb manufacturing jobs gains traction as Bucyrus officials take fight to the top

Nationwide — On Saturday, in a show of growing public pressure for Walmart to stand up to its supplier, GE-Savant LLC, and demand they keep manufacturing jobs for the retailer’s in-house “Made in America” LED light bulb line in the U.S., labor and environmental groups across the country will continue their third weekend of rallies at Walmart stores nationwide.

On Wednesday, Walmart announced a renewed 10-year commitment of $350 billion to support American manufacturing, despite the fact there is still two years left on its previous “Made in America” commitment of $250 billion, and no record of how or where that “support” has gone.

In response, Bucyrus Mayor Jeff Reser, Crawford County Economic Development Director Gary Frankhouse, and Steve Pifer, former City Council member, GE-Savant employee, and IUE-CWA Local 84704 union vice president, penned a letter to Walmart CEO Doug McMillon requesting a meeting to discuss how that commitment could be leveraged to save the GE-Savant jobs in Bucyrus.

After the producer of its store-brand LED light bulbs, GE-Savant LLC, announced it intended to move the product line to China for production, Walmart claimed: “it’s ultimately GE Lighting’s decision where to manufacture their products.” Yet workers at the plant say they bent over backwards to fulfill Walmart’s special requests for their products, squeezing the supplier for lower prices until it was no longer able to be profitable and support keeping the jobs in the U.S.

“Whatever Walmart wants, Walmart gets,” said Will Evans, GE-Savant worker and president of IUE-CWA Local 84704, which represents over 200 workers at the plant. “If they wanted new packaging design, or a different number of bulbs in the sleeve, we catered to them. Walmart is the exclusive customer of these bulbs and it should be easy for them to once again set expectations for their supplier, GE-Savant. If Walmart is serious about supporting American manufacturing, they can show it by keeping these jobs in our community.”

The Walmart brand light bulbs are currently made by IUE-CWA workers in Bucyrus, OH, one of the only residential lighting plants left in the United States, and the decision to offshore the product line to China will result in over 80 layoffs, set to take effect this Saturday.

The Walmart Supercenter in Bucyrus is a mere 2 miles from the factory where IUE-CWA workers make these light bulbs now. Earlier this month, environmental groups including Greenpeace USA, Natural Resources Defense Council, Friends of the Earth, Sunrise Movement, Fire Drill Friday, Earth Works, Earth Action and more sent a public letter calling on Walmart to keep the production of light bulbs in Ohio, citing increased pollution as a result of lengthening the supply chain with overseas shipping from China.

“There are two ways for our factory to remain open and thriveWal,” said Stever Pifer, IUE-CWA Local 84704’s vice president. “Both ways require a commitment from Walmart. Either they could take a smaller profit or they could invest in our factory to automate the lines that make LED bulbs exclusively for sale at Walmart stores. Either way, Walmart has set aside $350 Billion in their Made in the USA program just for situations like this.”

An online petition has been launched in support of the campaign.