Morton Salt to close Elston Avenue facility in Chicago
Morton Salt will stop operations in October at its warehousing and packaging facility on Elston Avenue in Chicago.
Morton Salt will close its Chicago warehousing and packaging facility on North Elston Avenue in October, according to a Sept. 15 announcement reported by the Chicago Tribune. Morton Salt now packages and stores ice-melting salts and other bulk salts for commercial use at its Elston facility. The 23 people who work at the site will lose their jobs, although they will be considered for other available positions within the company.
Morton Salt’s vice president of operations said that logistical needs drove the plans to close the Elston facility, but that Morton Salt intends to maintain a business presence at the Elston site, according to a report by the Chicago Sun-Times. The company has not disclosed how it will dispose of the rest of the property when operations cease.
Morton Salt Inc. is based in Chicago and has a presence in the city dating back to 1848. The company employs approximately 3,000 people in the U.S., Canada and the Bahamas, and sells salt products to consumers for the home, as well as to the food and pharmaceutical industries. Morton Salt also supplies ice-melting salt to municipalities, state transportation departments and road maintenance contractors.
The closing of the Morton Salt warehousing and packaging facility at Elston Avenue comes on the heels of a summer of manufacturing losses and corporate layoffs in Illinois. Companies’ operations change over time, and plant closures and business relocations are unavoidable. The natural churning of manufacturing and corporate employment makes it imperative that both the state of Illinois and the city of Chicago not squander opportunities to make their business climates friendlier to job providers.
By lowering taxes, reforming the workers’ compensation system and easing regulatory burdens on employers, Illinois and Chicago could clear the path for businesses to grow and succeed – and with this success, grow jobs for hardworking residents.