Tell Philips: Keep the Lights on in Sparta, Tenn.

Braving winter snows, hundreds of community activists, plant workers, small business owners and local leaders rallied in Sparta, Tenn., on Saturday, Jan. 8 to tell Royal Philips not to close the town's award-winning lighting plant and move its operations to Mexico. Rally participants called on Netherlands-based Philips to not turn its back on the people of Sparta and the approximately 275 employees of the plant, which has been widely recognized for excellence, including being named one of North America's 10 best plants in 2009 by Industry Week magazine. "The IBEW has always considered every option put forward by management to help reduce costs and increase competitiveness," says IBEW International Representative Brent Hall. "But Philips did not even give the employees the opportunity to negotiate before announcing the plant's shutdown. Plant workers and White County residents deserve better." "If our politicians don't do something about this, there will be nothing for us to do," says Scott Vincent, a 33-year veteran of the plant.