Unilever Closing Alberto Culver Plant In Melrose Park
CHICAGO (CBS) — The Alberto Culver plant in Melrose Park is shutting down, and about 600 workers will lose their jobs or be forced to transfer.
Consumer products maker Unilever PLC, which bought Alberto Culver last year, is planning to close the plant by 2013.
Unilever spokeswoman Anita Larsen told the Chicago Sun-Times the office staff at the plant in Melrose Park will be cut or transferred.
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Workers at the plant say they've been told the layoffs and transfers will be phased in and the plant shuttered sometime in 2013. Larsen said the decision to close the plant resulted from "a review of the company's manufacturing network in order to achieve cost efficiencies."
Unilever, based in Amsterdam, acquired Alberto Culver Co. for $3.7 billion. The plant turns out Alberto VO5 and TRESemme shampoos. The plant also makes Nexxus shampoos and conditioners, as well as St. Ives lotions and body wash.