S.C. Johnson lays off workers in restructuring process

RACINE (WITI) -- It's been an icon in the Racine community for more than 100 years. Now, S.C. Johnson Company is dealing with layoffs.

In October 2013, company officials said they plans to restructure. On Tuesday, February 11th, the company let workers know who is affected by the first round of cuts.

A spokeswoman for S.C. Johnson said on Tuesday, the company is focusing on its laid off employees. They won't say exactly how many workers will be laid off in three weeks -- but the pink slips have come.

In a statement, S.C. Johnson tells FOX6 News it cares deeply about the people who work there. "We are making these changes in the most supportive way including above market severance packages and job search support."

Debbie Davidson is part of the Workforce Development Team at Gate Technical College in Sturtevant. A year-and-a-half ago, it was the S.C. Johnson Company that handed Gateway a $1 million grant for job retraining programs -- not expecting some of its own employees will be coming there.

The majority of laid-off workers are expected to be white-collar, in IT fields. Gateway expects to bring laid off workers to a classroom to sharpen computer skills and perhaps learn updated programming. After that, the job outlook and high wage outlook is very good.

S.C. Johnson expects to offer voluntary retirement packages -- and do many of the job cuts slowly over the next year.

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In a separate move on Tuesday, S.C. Johnson announced The Caldrea Company and its brands, Caldrea® and Mrs. Meyer’s Clean Day®, will be integrated with SC Johnson’s Home Cleaning business based in Racine, Wis. As a result, the Minneapolis office will cease operations June 2014.

Select research and development, sales and marketing positions will be relocated from Minneapolis to Racine. Other roles – including product supply, human resources, and business processes and technology – will be consolidated into existing functions in Racine. In total, the company expects 40 people will be affected.