Staff reductions at Fennimore battery factory to begin this year

FENNIMORE, Wis. — Staff reductions at a manufacturing plant in Fennimore will begin in December ahead of the battery factory’s permanent closure next year.

Energizer Holdings Inc. this week filed a layoff notice with the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development notifying the department of its plan to lay off all 172 employees at its plant in Fennimore.

Layoffs will begin Dec. 1, the notice states, and will continue in phases until the plant’s closure in September of 2024.

The notice was filed in compliance with the national Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act and Wisconsin Business Closing and Mass Layoff laws.

The battery factory has been in Fennimore since 1970, previously operating as Rayovac and Spectrum Brands. Its closure first was announced in January by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, who represent a number of union workers at the Fennimore plant.

Energizer later confirmed its plan to close the Fennimore factory, along with plans to close its plant in Portage, Wis.