Williams Controls — site of an 11-month strike that ended nearly three years ago — plans to lay off half its Portland production workforce and move work to its facility in Suzhou, China.

The company manufactures throttle controls used in heavy trucks, buses, and off-road equipment. It sells to Freightliner, Volvo, Navistar, Caterpillar and other companies.

About 52 members of United Auto Workers (UAW) Local 492 will be shown the door over the next 18 months, with layoffs expected to begin in late July. Five salaried employees will also be fired.

After the layoffs, about 48 union workers will remain, plus about 80 salaried workers in engineering, finance and administrative positions.

“It’s very difficult to let employees go,” said Williams CEO Patrick W. Cavanagh in a press statement. Cavanagh, whose salary, bonus, 401(k) contribution and relocation allowance totaled $847,000 in 2005, will remain with the publicly-traded company. “But in order to remain a viable competitor in our marketplace, we must structure our operations to enhance our offering to customers and improve our competitive position.”

In fact, the company’s “competitive position” is quite strong. Williams is the leading producer worldwide of electronic throttle controls. Its product is in high demand because of worldwide trend toward more stringent emissions standards. In March, the company set a monthly sales record of over $7.1 million. But that’s not good enough for the company owners, said Local 492 Vice President Michael Rivenes, because work can be done more cheaply in China.

Under the current labor contract, the Portland workers make $13 to $25 an hour, plus fringe benefits that include health care insurance and pension.

“They can make it cheaper, but we still believe we can make it better,” Rivenes said.

The company set up operations in China last year, and now is moving manufacture of its pneumatic throttle controls to China, leaving the manufacture of electronic throttle controls in Portland. Rivenes said it’s mostly the higher-skilled jobs that are going away — including 10 die cast workers, 20 machinists and four to five tool and die workers. Meanwhile, the company is hiring for four engineering, design, and accounting positions.

Williams has been in Portland 69 years, and Rivenes said many of the production employees have 20 to 30 years of commitment to the company.

The union is working with the State of Oregon and the AFL-CIO affiliated Labor’s Community Service Agency to petition the federal government for dislocated worker benefits.

“This is happening everywhere in America,” Rivenes said. “These guys, the managers, we used to hang out with them on the playground. But they’ve pretty much forgotten their little brothers and turned their backs on their country.”

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