Optima Batteries moves to Mexico

[MarkM66]

"CBS4's Rick Sallinger speaks with an employee of the Optima battery factory, located near the intersection of Interstate 70 and Airport Road.

This Thanksgiving is a tough one for 140 employees of a battery production firm in Aurora who learned this week their jobs are going to a new plant in Mexico.

For a decade Optima Batteries has produced its product in the United States, but earlier this year employees were informed a new plant was being constructed in the Mexican city of Cienega de Flores.

"When they built that plant in Mexico, what did they tell you?" CBS4's Rick Sallinger asked one employee.

"That half of the production would stay here and the other half to Mexico."

"And now it's all going to Mexico?" Rick asked. "Yeah," the employee said.

Optima workers in Aurora told CBS4 they were asked to train Mexican employees for the new facility.

The company issued a statement saying "the economy has changed dramatically over the past several months and we find ourselves in a very difficult market." Doors will close on Jan. 31.

No time is a good time to lose your job, but especially not now.

"It kind of puts a damper on it knowing in a couple months you don't have a job (and you'll be) going down to unemployment," one worker said.

A spokesperson for the city of Aurora said the timing is unfortunate and they understand the impact on the employees and their families.

The company is part of a much larger firm called Johnson Controls, which said they will provide support and placement services for the employees in Aurora who are losing their jobs."

http://cbs4denver.com/local/Optima.B....2.874937.html