Minnetonka, Minn.-based Polar Tank Trailer LLC yesterday announced it would close its plant in Partnership Industrial Center.
The closure at 4825 E. Kearney St. would affect 245 employees. The company plans to continue production of trailers for the construction and over-the-road trucking industries on a limited basis through July, according to a news release provided by Rick Temple, a Springfield attorney who represents Polar Tank.
“It is always a difficult decision to close a production facility, but soft market conditions necessitated that the company make this change,” Polar Tank President Randy Arlt said in the release. “Polar will continue to service its customers through other available manufacturing capacity.”
The statement did not address worker protests at the factory that started two months ago.
Hundreds of employees associated with United Steelworkers Local 11-770 began picketing the business over alleged unfair labor practices and a hostile working environment, according to a
KY3 report.
According to a separate statement provided by Temple, Polar’s Springfield plant in February produced 34 trailers, seven less than the prior month. It also said no layoffs had been conducted as a result of the strikes.
“Since the strike began on Feb. 5, the company has been operating a limited first shift with supervisors and the approximate 80 bargaining unit employees who have been crossing the picket line to work,” Temple said via email. “The company expects to continue a limited first-shift operation until July.”
Temple said Polar eventually plans to sell the nearly 140,000-square-foot plant on 21 acres. The property has a 2016 taxable appraised value of $7.1 million, according to Greene County assessor records.
Polar has operated in Springfield since 1995. The company also operates a plant in Minnetonka, which is not slated to close.
