Spartan Motors bought out the very successful Road Rescue Inc. Manufacturer of fine Emergency Vehicles, A St. Paul, Mn. Home grown co. Established in 1976. They have had a few owners over the years, but has always been "profitable and successful" The former owners at least thought of the employee's as the back bone to the Co. That is how they became the industry leader in Custom, Top of the Line Ambulances and Rescue Vehicles.
In 1998 Spartan bought them out, never intending to keep the plant open in Minnesota, which employed 160 proud people with a livable wage. Can you guess the problem now?
In May of after ignoring many badly needed opportunities to rent/purchase a new building, they opened a second plant in Marion, S. Carolina. Were the labor is much less, taxes are less, govrnment regulations are all but non-existant (big corps rarely care about things that protect the people or planet) all they care about is the "Bottom Line" They aqquired the best E.V. Manufacturer anyone could possibly dream of, our reputation was impeckable, ask any E.M.T./ Fireman they will tell you. But having pride in owning a profitable, Best of the best Ambulance Mfgr. Was not a concern Then they slowly destroyed it over 3 years of Bold Faced Lies directly to our faces. Leary... We all went on knowing they assured us of our job security "we dont close plants that make money" Fair enough right? They made it so we made lilttle or no money. How you say, We (St. Paul) bought everything for their plant, very wastfully so i mighht add, even gave up equiptment to send down. We built 9 trucks a week on a good average in an outdated Building, After almost 2 years, S. Carolina to this day is building only 2 a week, on a REALLY good Week... 2.5 trucks. Not to mention the gross drop in Quality, craftsmanship and lack of a mgmt member who cares?
So 160 people got screwed figurativly because Head Managment in this case blundered in a big way, they assumed you could train any monkey to do this job. We all know how well they all learn in S. Carolina with that model edgu-ma-cation they Have!!! R.I.P. Road Rescue, St. Paul. Closing due to Corporate Greed! A lil and the best would never be enough
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