WEST ALLIS, Wis. -- A sign reading 'That's all folks. The end.' was propped on the front of the last tractor to come off the assembly line at Allis-Chalmers Manufacturing Co., ending decades of production for the one-time farm machinery giant.
In the cavernous tractor plant Friday afternoon, someone cut a cake and workers posed for pictures in front of the last tractor. The two block-long assembly lines employing only about 100 people in the plant's final days were silent and empty.
As workers shook hands and left the plant, some said they were grateful for their years of work at the plant, which once employed 17,000 workers. But few held hope of finding other jobs.
Many were bitter at the financially-ailing company for cutting off their pension plan in July and putting people on the street without severance pay and insurance.
'They're in here with their cake and soda, and I guess that's our severence pay,' said Kurt Miller, 31, who had worked at the plant 11 years.
The United Auto Workers Local 248 and the company have been negotiating for the past month on a severence plan. More talks are planned next week.
The company months ago asked the federal government to take over payment of pensions, saying the company pension fund was depleted. The company has not made a profit in two years.
Roger Mocherman, general manager of the tractor plant, said in a statement that the end of production 'is an event we have planned for since the company made its decision to get out of the agricultural equipment business some months ago.'
The tractor business was sold to a West German firm.
'As we view the continued deterioration of the agricultural economy today, it was the right business decision for Allis-Chalmers,' he said.
