Union, city rally to stop ZF Steering from closing
ZF, which bought TRW plant in 2015, plans to close the north end Lafayette manufacturing facility in 2027. Plus, more pressure lands in Trump’s push to redistrict Indiana ahead of ’26 midterms
Support for today’s edition comes from Lafayette Rotary, hosting its 8th Annual Ice Cream Crawl from 1-4 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 23. Participants can visit any or all of nine Greater Lafayette ice cream shops to get a free sample of ice cream. Passports (tickets) are $10 for individuals and $25 for families of five or fewer from the same household and are available from Eventbrite. Proceeds from the Ice Cream Crawl fundraiser will go to Caregiver Companion and the Claire E. & Patrick G. Mackey Children’s Cancer Foundation. Visit www.lafayetterotary.org to learn more about the Ice Cream Crawl and the Lafayette Rotary organization.
UNION, CITY RALLY TO STOP ZF STEERING FROM CLOSING
With ZF looking to close its steering production site – the former Ross Gear and later TRW on Lafayette’s north end – by March 2027, Mayor Tony Roswarski said Friday that the city has been working in recent months to offer tax abatements, job training funds and other incentives to get the company from leaving.
Roswarski told members of UAW Local 531 during a rally near the plant Friday that the city would continue to do what it could to work with ZF, a German-based company that bought TRW and the Lafayette facility that makes automotive steering components near Ninth and Heath streets in 2015.
“We did not get notified about it until they came to tell us, this is what’s happening,” Roswarski said after the UAW rally Friday about ZF’s conversations with the city. “We scrambled to do whatever we could just to keep them here. But the way it was explained to me, it’s a customer-driven decision and there’s not really anything that can be done.”
On Friday, members of UAW Local 531 said they continued to work with ZF officials, too, hoping to work out a deal that could keep jobs in Lafayette, after they’d been notified in January about the company’s plans.
“Nobody’s getting rich over here, but it’s a job that people stayed at and a job people retired from,” Patrick Lee, president of the local union, said. “Without any notice, they came and told us they decided cost savings and profitability were more important than the people and the agreement they have with us. We thought these were things we could through together. Instead, they made a decision without telling us anything.”
Contacted Friday afternoon, Tony Sapienza, head of ZF’s communications in North America, confirmed the plan is to close part of the company’s site in Lafayette by March 2027.
“ZF has worked diligently with our customers and partners to identify a path forward for our Lafayette Steering production site,” Sapienza said. “Unfortunately, a solution was not found.”
Sapienza said the company “is committed to retaining our workforce as long as possible and will support our employees through workforce transition.”
He said the ZF Engineering Services Center in Lafayette will not be affected, calling the site “critical to our company and the future of ZF.”
The ZF Engineering Services Center, which is on the same north end Lafayette campus, has approximately 160 employees, Sapienza said. He said those jobs will remain at that site.
The ZF Steering manufacturing plant employs approximately 200 people, he said.
In July 2025, the company announced that it was “in the midst of the most comprehensive restructuring program in its history.” According to a release, the company said “the sluggish ramp-up of electromobility and uncertainty arising from the US tariffs mean lower sales and rising costs.”
“We are addressing these issues and accelerating our restructuring program,” the release said. “This is a tough road, but it’s the right one for ZF.”
During a rally just off the ZF site, employees leaned into the history of a production facility that has roots more than a century old.
David Ross first opened Ross Gear in 1906, making rear axles, steering gears and other parts for a burgeoning automotive market. (Ross later became a Purdue trustee and benefactor, recruiting alumni to raise money for the Purdue Memorial Union and later helping to fund Ross-Ade Stadium.) Ross Gear merged with TRW in 1964.
Friday’s rally drew support from Roswarski, West Lafayette Mayor Erin Easter, state Sen. Ron Alting and state Rep. Sheila Klinker.
“Don’t stop fighting,” Alting told employees.
Lee said the closing felt like a betrayal on several fronts, particularly after ZF told employees it considered the Lafayette plant essential, keeping it running as the COVID-19 pandemic broke out.
“We were upset, but they needed us here working to make money for them, because they called us essential,” Lee said. “And we did it. … After sacrificing to come out and do our jobs in all that, a few years down the road, we get this. This is the appreciation we get, without discussion. That’s why we’re not done and not ready to give up.”
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REDISTRICTING DRAMA CONTINUES IN INDIANA: A pressure campaign targeting Indiana lawmakers – including at least one in Tippecanoe County – stepped up Friday to wheedle support for a White House scheme to redistrict congressional seats ahead of the 2026 midterms to protect a slim Republican majority in Congress.
Indy Star reporters had more on a White House invitation sent to Indiana lawmakers for an Aug. 26 meeting: “Though Indiana appears to be the next front in a nationwide fight over how congressional districts are drawn ahead of the 2026 midterm elections, it's not clear how much the topic will be a focus of the previously scheduled meeting, first reported by Punchchbowl News. One of those email invitations shared with IndyStar shows that the White House sent the invites on July 28, well before Vice President JD Vance's Aug. 7 visit with Gov. Mike Braun and Indiana leaders.” For more: “Trump invites Indiana lawmakers to the White House amid redistricting talks.”
Politico’s Adam Wren and Andrew Howard had this on the invitations – which they reported already had four dozen takers and just two saying no thanks – and on a robocall campaign targeting some state lawmakers that started hitting voter and media cellphones Friday afternoon: “White House officials turn up the heat on Indiana redistricting.”
State Sen. Spencer Deery, a West Lafayette Republican, was the target of one of those robocall and texting pushes Friday. Deery is among a handful of General Assembly Republicans who have said they weren’t in favor of redrawing district lines in the middle of the decade to try to squeeze out a few more seats for the party. (State Rep. Mark Genda, a Frankfort Republican whose District 41 includes southern and eastern portions of Tippecanoe County, told BiL this week that he wasn’t in favor, either. Greater Lafayette state Reps. Sheila Klinker and Chris Campbell, both Democrats, have blasted the idea, too.) Friday afternoon, Deery referenced the calls looking to pressure him, making this statement on Facebook: “A wise statesman once told me, “When they start running ads in your district to get you to vote a certain way, it’s because they know their arguments are too weak to convince you in person. Let’s be very clear about what this is: groups from outside Indiana are trying to convince Hoosiers that we should use your tax dollars to start a redistricting war that no one will win. It would become a race to the bottom, and in the long run, it would be used in primary fights to protect incumbents and establishment forces against challengers. We don’t have to go down this road as a country and Indiana certainly shouldn’t beat the path for leftist states to follow.”
ICYMI, TIM’S PICKS …: There’s a lot going in this weekend, including Lauren Daigle’s concert at Elliott Hall Friday evening and OutFest in downtown Lafayette Saturday. BiL correspondent Tim Brouk has you covered for those and more, in this week’s Tim’s Picks. Here’s a replay:
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Tarriffs are to blame for another factory closing. Voting has consequences.
This is foolish , the assembly would throw our state autonomy to the side to please some corrupt New York grifter who doesn’t care about them or their constituents.