AriensCo lets go of hundreds of workers, seemingly without warning

BRILLION, Wis. (WBAY) - AriensCo, a major manufacturer in Northeast Wisconsin, is laying off some employees at one of its Brillion plants. Workers tell us they were blindsided to learn this week that entire shifts were being eliminated immediately.

“We are rebalancing our manufacturing workforce across our different locations and shifts to maximize production output,” the company said in a public statement.

The company says it’s immediately ending some of its Brillion campus shifts, namely the 2nd, 3rd, and weekend shift operations. The company didn’t say how many workers would be impacted by the ending of the shifts, but employees we’ve been speaking with say it’s around 250 to 300 people.

Edward Von Fraun says the situation was handled poorly with announcements over the public address system roughly two hours into their shift. He told us, “We found out, everybody in the facility found out at the same time, they walked us to the back of the facility by a large open big door and they said, ‘We’re really sorry but we’re having staffing issues, but please please exit out that way and do not return back into the building.’ We were given no heads up whatsoever.”

“I was sad for them. They were yelling out how long they had worked there as they were walking away,” von Fraun added.

An employee shared a copy of packet they received from AriensCo with Action 2 News, informing them that their shift has ended effective immediately and they will be paid through Thursday. The packet informed the employee how to apply online for other jobs with the company and explained what would happen to their benefits.

Brillion’s mayor says the city will organize job fairs.

“They want to grow Brillion but it’s not going to go well with losing that many people,” Grayson Vogt, who lives in Brillion, said.

Lora Wellner, who also lives in Brillion, said, “I was surprised and I was shocked. I mean, like I said, Facebook just lit up of all the people losing their jobs. I think it’s sad. I think it’s going to hurt the community.”

Ariens said it will expand production on 1st shift.

“All impacted employees are encouraged to apply for these new positions as well as other positions currently available. We have roughly 100 positions open for impacted employees to consider.”

Ariens says no other changes are planned.

“We understand this rebalance directly affects employees and have provided paid time for them to apply for open roles,” the statement reads.

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