The company that makes Sharpie-brand markers recently announced it’s transferring some 40 jobs from a production facility in Maryville to a distribution site in Shelbyville.
The move comes within a year of Newell Rubbermaid shifting jobs the other way, and that has some workers confused about the switch.
Newell Rubbermaid is in the process of realigning its facilities across the state. Last year that meant shifting production jobs out of Shelbyville, and now it means bringing distribution jobs in.
The fluctuating employment picture has frustrated some who lost jobs with the company. But spokesperson Connie Bryant says none of the jobs now headed to Shelbyville were among those transferred out last fall.
“Manufacturing positions have essentially been moved to the Maryville facility… And then the distribution positions currently at Maryville will move to an existing distribution center there in Shelbyville.”
Some former workers in Shelbyville worried the company would give preference to hiring transfers in from Maryville. But Bryant says anyone qualified will be considered. And she says the company will also help workers leaving the company find other jobs.
Newell Rubbermaid will employ between 8 and 9 hundred workers statewide, and Bryant says no further shakeups are expected.
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